#edited it and then got it kicked out of tags .. sorry Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[cutesymiku]

Bloodmoonmoth

— a gender under the gendermoth system related to blood, the moon, and moths

day 2 in @bloodivine's coining event | blood or gore

Tagging :: @cherrymogai

[emptymasks]

They're done! I really want to try and make prints again as it's been years and I've never felt like I was very good at making whole posters. Dipping my toe back in with these silly chibis of each Papa with every Ghoul they've had. Perhaps they can also work as a guide for those wanting to learn all the characters? I added in a fair amount of little references with the Ghoul's poses so it'll be interesting to see what you guys figure out and notice!

The prints are on pre-order and won't ship out until November. I've put up 25 of each to start with but if they get low on stock I'll keep adding more until I have them printed and then it'll be a set amount in stock.

Also a reminder about the stickers of every Ghost Papa and Ghoul that I made earlier this year that are also available as customisable badges! Thank you so much to everyone who already bought them and got Etsy to list them as a 'bestseller' for a while. They're still up and in stock.

EDIT: someone informed me Delta was not in Secondo's era so sorry little water ghoul but he got edited out of that drawing.

Characters featured on the prints and are also available on stickers and badges: Papa Emeritus I / Primo, Papa Emeritus II / Secondo, Papa Emerirus III / Terzo, Papa Emeritus IV / Cardinal Copia, Aether, Air, Alpha / Fire, Aurora, Chain / Water, Cirrus, Cowbell, Cumulus, Delta, Dewdrop / Sodo, Earth, Ifrit, Ivy, Lake, Mist, Mountain, Omega / Quintessence, Pebble, Phantom, Phil / Special Ghoul, Rain, Sunshine, Swiss, Zephy.

I can’t link to my Etsy without risking Tumblr hiding the post from tag search results, but the link is in my pinned post, my carrd, I’m emptymasks on Etsy. Reblogs help support artists more than likes ❤️

[ID: Four landscape drawings, one for each of Ghost's Papas and the Ghouls that were in the band with them while they were the lead singer. Each Papa is in the center with each of their ghouls standings to their sides. Every character has their name written above or below them, on brightly coloured backgrounds for each Papa's robe colour. Also, individual pixel art chibi drawings of 69 characters from various European musicals (listed above) that are available as stickers. These drawings are also available as badges where they are placed inside circles to show what they will look like as physical button badges, some of them with plain colour backgrounds and some with 1-3 different pride flags as examples of how you can customise the backgrounds.]

For those who want to know what the little references in the prints are and don't want to guess, they're under the cut:

Omega can be a stompy boy when he's playing guitar, Alpha likes to throw up peace signs, Air is very found of the rock horns hand symbol, there's one close-up photo of Lake out there where you can clearly see his black sclera contacts and he's doing double 'horns' hand symbol, Mountain infamously takes his shoes off when playing the drums and leaves them on the stage at the site of his drumkit, Dewdrop likes to like.. most things including his guitar and his picks and sometimes his own hand, Pebble liked to hand out his drumsticks at the end of shows by dropkicking them into the crowd, Omega wore a flower tucked into his guitar strap during one show and Terzo constantly flirts with him more than other ghouls, Delta is suspected to be the ghoul that attempted to kick an audience member off stage when they climbed onstage and attempted to kiss Terzo, Zephyr was the only band member and only keyboardist who sat down while playing, the special ghoul played by Tobias wore a nametag 'Phil' in an interview, Swiss constantly is showing all his teethies with his smiles and always wiggling and moving around, Aether and Dewdrop often interact with Dew teasing/bothering Aether, Dew and Rain also often interact with Dew constantly reaching to grab his neck and attempt to kiss him, aaaand I think that's everything I intentionally included other than just generally tried to get the poses and expressions to match the personality we've seen from each ghoul.

[bunny-jpeg]

the dnf club (vol. 1)

carlos sainz jr.

tags: smut/pwp, brazil gp '24, praise kink, hair pulling/playing, cowgirl position, spanish speaking!reader, affection

a/n: five dnfs at the brazil gp! i feel honestly so bad for them! it's nothing a little smutty fan fic won't fix! so welcome readers to the dnf club <3

franco edition // alex edition // lance edition // nico edition

"carlos." you said as you took your lover's hand and leaned in to him. he got out of your hand and wrapped his strong arm around you. by instinct you placed your hand on his chest and looked at him, "i'm sorry."

victory last week turned into a dnf this week. and you knew that the odds of him taking home the wdc were next to none. he still wanted his last few races with ferrari to be special. so every mishap hit harder.

he held you by the small of your back and silently kissed your cheek. and you knew what you had to do when you got back to the hotel that night.

you got to the hotel before he did. he had to sit through press and try to keep a grasp on sanity before he could slink back to the hotel room. you had dinner ideas for him to help soften the blow of the results.

dressed in one of his t-shirts that hung a little loose around the shoulders, and wasn't long enough to obscure your bright blue panties. you had your hair pushed back with a fabric headband with cat ears on them. it wasn't the ideal sex goddess look, but it was comfortable enough while you started to pack up for the trip to las vegas.

the door to the hotel room opened and you greeted your lover. but you were soon met with his weight against you. his size pressed against you almost had you toppled over onto the bed. you managed to lie down on it gently instead of a full faceplant.

"how are you, honey?"

he mumbled something in spanish, he wrapped his strong arms around and kicked off his sneakers before he dragged you into bed. the words in his first language continued. you pouted at them, you spoke spanish quite well and were able to easily pick up on what he was saying.

"it should've been better." "i should've been better." "i'm sorry, my love." and the one that curled in your stomach was, "i need to be with you. need to feel you."

his large hands climbed up under your shirt and you did him the favor to take it off all together. his lips found your heated skin and his hands rested at your sides as you both were tumbled into bed together. the covers kicked to the bottom as his hands then got to the waist of your shorts and pulled them down. "i need you." he said.

you ran your fingers through his dark hair, you could tell the hungry expression that crossed his face. how he looked at you, the kind of gaze that made you take control. he'd be good for you as repayment for such a failure on the track.

repentance.

you got on top of him in just your bra and panties. your hands splayed across his chest as you looked down at him. heat heavy in your cheeks as you said, "let's get you out of all of this. you don't need to wear ferrari, not when it's just you and i." you leaned in as you pulled his t-shirt up, "you can wear my kisses instead." then got the shirt up over his head.

he chuckled lowly, "i'll wear your kisses forever."

you stripped him the covered his face in kisses. you felt your affection towards him grew. the thump in your chest and you admired his nude body. you looked at him with love and continued to move against him. you teased his cock a little. he shuddered with want and when you pulled his thick hair a little, he moaned.

"you're so good for me, carlos. always have and always will be. you'll get them next time." you said as you sank down on his cock.

he moaned and held onto your hips as you started to move up and down. you never took his cock out of your sweet pussy but your movements still made carlos feel the shudder of excitement run through him. he whined, "i want to make you proud."

you replied, "you always do, carlos. even when you dnf, i still feel so proud of you. you're the best man for the job and whatever team you're on, you'll race them to victory." you yanked his hair a little more as you rode him. you wanted him to feel better, more confident. you hated when he beat himself up and wanted to do everything in your power to make sure that he was okay.

and that meant riding him. taking his cock so well that that he forgot all about the race. you pulled on his hair a little more as you moved against his cock. you rode him and he held onto your sweet hips.

"please." he panted, "it feels so good. i love you."

you giggled in response, you kissed his jaw and replied, "i love you too. anything for you, my love. you do so well, might as well get some loving in there as well. make you feel good despite the loss." you captured his lips once more and the two of you moaned against one another.

the movements picked up pace and you held onto his dark hair a little tighter. you feel the throb in your chest as the pleasure curled in your gut. you could feel the tension in your thighs from your movements, but kept going.

carlos knew he was lucky to have you. beyond lucky, the type of luck that allowed him to get onto the ferrari team. whatever higher power was looking down on him. gave him his two wishes, to race in formula one and to find a woman who he could love forever. and would love him too.

you pulled away from the kiss and looked down at him. you cupped his face for a moment, you spoke to him in spanish, "you did so good today. i know you think it was a failure. but." you kissed him on the face, "you raced beautifully. you always race beautifully." then quickened your kisses across his face.

he blushed a little bit and replied, "i always race for you. you fuel my soul." carlos loved you, obsessed with you in certain ways. but not in a way that cruel or hurtful. if he got to be by your side at any occasion, he would take it.

that was why he wanted to make you proud.

the kisses continued, they grew heavier with the more you moved. carlos' hands explored your sides, it made you shudder with want. it was incredibly hot between you two. the air of the hotel bedroom grew and you felt sweat down your back.

even with the kiss broke, you gazed into his dark eyes and your pace onto quickened. you laid chest to chest with him and moved his head by his hair to kiss him deeply on the lips. he moaned into it. you couldn't get enough of him. it was a deep need you had in your soul for him.

and he carried the same feeling for you. he groaned, "i love you. so much." he groaned through a tense jaw as you went as fast as you could go.

you could feel the strain on your back from the position and simply over doing it. but you didn't care. not at that moment. you only wanted to feel good. and the promise of immense pleasure for the both of you kept your hips moving in a way that made the both of you only get louder.

you were thankful that the headboard was sturdy enough to not slam against the wall, you didn't want that noise complaint come morning. carlos took you by the back of the head and kissed you deeply on the lips as he felt the course of pleasure through him.

it was undeniable, the heat between you two. it always had been and as the kisses got heavier, your pace got messier. and soon the feeling became overwhelming. and you tensed up around your lover, hands in his hair as you gave it on last tug before you came around his cock.

he groaned and held onto your hips once more, he moved you up and down his cock. your praise was loose on your lips as you told him how amazing he was, and how much you loved him. that your heart raced for him and you yearned for him. his pleasure with yours. he couldn't hold out much longer and with a few more strokes of his cock he pushed all the way inside of you and finished.

both exhausted, you laid on top of him. your hands on him as you tried to compose yourself. and instead of your hands in his hair. his hand was in your hair. he wasn't rough with his touches however, instead lightly stroking your strands as you laid curled up in one another.

you looked up at him and said softly, "next week will be your week."

and carlos smiled as he leaned down to kiss on the forehead, "it'll be our week."

come the next week in las vegas. carlos had a renewed sense of confidence. this would be his race to win, he'd make you proud and end the season on a high note. when the lights went down, it was show time. and carlos knew that he could get another victory. <3

[arom-antix]

So, with the main part of this whole thegirlwhorideslikeasamurai (Samurai from here on) situation having blown over, I thought I'd make a final-for-now summary post that outlines the key points in this situation so that I can cap this for the time being. It's also for the people who've stumbled upon one of the many posts about this and have no clue where to start or don't understand the context, because yeah, there's a lot. I've had multiple people reach out who were in that situation, so here's the summary for anyone who's interested.

Links to all the posts in this situation:

Initial posts: 1. Samurai's answer w/ my response 2. Samurai's response to me

Main threads: 3. Culture and fandom thread 4. Screenshots thread

Other threads: 5. Initial receipts 6. First ask 7. First anon ask, rebuttal 8. Second anon ask 9. Third anon ask 10. Fourth anon ask 11. Fifth anon ask 12. Sixth anon ask, thread 13. Disclaimer to not misuse my posts 14. Follow-up regarding Samurai's continued hypocrisy

I will be referring back to these post in the normat "no. #".

There are multiple key players in this whole thing but seeing as this post contains primarily my words and take on things (and the others involved have honestly had enough stress about this for one month) I've elected not to tag them. You can find them in the posts I linked to. However, I will note the abscence of any real response from Samurai. I'll get into that further down.

A big thank you to everyone who's contributed to this discussion. It's been wonderful finally getting all this stuff out in the open.

Break for those who want a usable dash or don't care. But I encourage you to do so because this does matter for your fandom experience going forward.

So first, what happened? Well, the first thing to understand is that this whole thing started a long time ago, and the reason it's becoming a big thing now is pure chance. It was going to happen eventually. It happening now is just how it went. But for the sake of cohesion, I'll approach it from where the situation itself arose, especially since it displays some of the behaviours I'll be highlighting later pretty well.

The way this all kicked off was that Samurai posted no. 1 in response to an ask about the canon vs. fanon spelling of Yuuri and Viktor's names. In this response Samurai was pretty rude and demeaning towards Japanese name translation inconsistencies. There was also a minor spelling error. I pointed these things out in a reblog of Samurai's post which can also be found in no. 1. Now, Samurai did respond to this, but not in the way you'd think. She didn't reblog my post. Instead, she quietly edited the spelling error in her original post (just became incorrect in a different way), and then reblogged that new version of her own post and tagged me in it. Strange, but okay, I guess. In her response she apologised for the cultural insensitivity and explained that English was not her first language which, sure, that's fair. However, she also went on to explain the spelling error was actually just a misunderstanding, and then was even more wrong about Japanese in her explanation of that. Go to no. 3 to get an explanation as to why she was doubly wrong. I couldn't be bothered to start anything about this poor response, so I reblogged it so people could see it, said "sorry if I was harsh, have a good day", and went on my way.

Later that same day I then got an ask (no. 3 and 4) about that last reblog which said that I shouldn't have apologised for being right, and explained that Samurai was not a stranger to poor behaviour and bad takes. I was already tired of Samurai and had been for a while, so I answered the ask by explaining that I just apologised to keep the peace, but I was over trying to do that anymore.

And this is where the situation took off from. People started reblogging my post with their own grievances about Samurai, including bad experiences from interacting with her, and I began getting asks where people corroborated these claims and shared their own frustrations. I won't explain those asks and reblogs here since they're in the links at the beginning, and their main points can be boiled down to the following:

Avoiding accountability Samurai has a knack for worming their way out of taking accountability for their actions. She'll divert attention from the issue at hand, she'll use whataboutism to point fingers back in your face, she'll fabricate a sympathetic angle of her actions and use your natural tendency to want to see the good in people against you, she'll make sure you know just how sad and insecure she is, and she'll do it all while talking like she's an expert. Like when she responded to my post but didn't actually admit that the spelling mistake was just that. A mistake. She didn't have some advanced knowledge that she proceeded to explain. She was just wrong. Twice. And she couldn't even just say "Ah sorry, my finger slipped."

Victim complex She's also always the victim. She doesn't get enough engagement? The fandom doesn't understand her. She's trying so hard, why are worse posts getting attention when she makes such high quality stuff? The fandom must be rotting from the inside with no academics left to admire her supreme intellect. Someone posts an anylisis similar to hers? Plagiarism! Thievery! Piracy! It could never be because there are only so many scenes and conclusions to draw about said scene in a show that people have been analysing for eight years. Someone disagrees with a conclusion of hers? Well they're an acephobe, of course! A bigoted Karen who's trying to erase the real academics in the fandom! God forbid someone criticises her? Blocked, blocked, blocked, the fandom is so toxic, omg, she needs to get better at recognising fake friends, smh.

Manipulating the narrative As you might not be surprised, she also loves being in control of what her audience sees of the discourse she gets into. See: her not reblogging my post and instead making a separate post when that was more work than just responding directly. She's also notorious for editing her posts so when people criticise them she can feign ignorance and claim she never said that. And in terms of the individuals who've been intimidated into silence by Samurai and her entourage, if their stories got out, that would be a catastrophe, right? It would hurt her precious reputation after all.

General Manipulation and Gaslighting And yeah, that leads us to the big one. Now, these are hefty accusations and I'm especially bringing up the latter a bit dubiously. However, I think it needs to be said that many of the tactics she uses are manipulation strategies. I'm saying that as someone who's been at the receiving end of these methods. They get you to shut up. They get you to doubt your own judgement. They get you to think things you wouldn't have otherwise. And, most importantly, they get you to forgive things you never would. They worm themselves into your brain and get you to question your own ability to make decisions and understand the world. And that right there where it becomes gaslighting. Again, I'm not saying Samurai is being all that extreme but I am saying that she's leading people down the slippery slope of accepting this type of behaviour by convincing them that it's actually okay because she said so.

Insincerity This overlaps a good amount with manipulation, but I thought it was necessary to point out separately, because she's notorious for it. As was mentioned in no. 12, she has repeatedly displayed disingenuous behaviour across social medias and has used those different behaviours to twist the story into what she wants it to be, so she comes out of it looking either like a victim or like an underdog and saviour of the fandom. Is it a crime to want to look good online? Of course not. Does she use that liberty to fabricate a benevolent image of herself despite repeatedly not living up to said image? Very much so.

Bullying and Namecalling This goes back to how I mentioned her accusing people of being acephobes for not agreeing with her very important and perfectly correct analyses. Beyond this, she has also called people illiterate for not agreeing with her analyses as if these "academic" takes of hers are so obviously right that only someone incapable of accessing the source material would disagree, has called someone a Nazi for using the actual current DSM-5 medical term for autism (as far as I've been informed in private, see no. 3, 4, and 5 for partial context), and has recently become very fond of calling people dicks.

Superiority complex This all of course comes down to the actual issue at the bottom of all of this: Samurai thinks she's better than the rest of us. She thinks she's more academic, more literate, more intellectual, and laments the lack of people who can match her frea- I mean, level. No weird takes on her blog as she says (no. 4). This is a "dick" move to use her own vocabulary but is even worse when you realise that she's not all that academic or intellectual herself. Which, by the way, is completely fine! You don't need a PhD to discuss anime men. However, she makes it sound like that. She belittles posts that aren't as "academic" as hers simply because they upset her or have more interactions. She belittles the entire fandom simply because other people don't subscribe to her lonely intellectual narrative and enjoy fandom casually. She insists that her analyses are better than other metas when the academia she's so proud of isn't even really there in a lot of them. And she will absolutely make you feel worthless for thinking you can contribute to the fandom on her level because no one is as good as her.

Do I really care much about some arrogant loser on the Internet? No. Do I care that she's belittling her entire community by ridiculing their contributions and positioning herself as the one true deliverer of gospel? Absolutely. See, the issue isn't just that she's arrogant. It's that that's not enough for her. She pushes the rest of the community down so that she can feel even more superior. She also routinely complains about her lack of engagement which, wow, what a mystery, what might be scaring them away? But secondly, she's indirectly belittling the support the fans of her content are giving her. No. 11 is from one such fan who experienced this. Let it be made clear that Samurai might genuinely want to form a community and be social, but she does not see herself like the rest of us when it comes down to it. She sees herself as better. Or, at the very least, she posts as if she does.

Okay, that's all well and good, but Arom, why does this matter? Isn't it just petty fandom drama? Why should we care? Well, you should care because the people who've been hurt by this behaviour and those who've left the fandom to be free of it are your peers. They're not random Internet strangers. The next one could be your close fandom friend. The one after that could be you. The reason I'm making this post is so that you can understand how Samurai operates and not fall for her tactics. They're incredibly easy to start forgiving. I've been there. You have to catch this stuff before it turns into something legitimately damaging. I also want you guys to be able to take this situation with you and apply what you've learned to other actually dangerous people. I don't consider Samurai dangerous. To be frank, I consider her an immature embarrassment. Can she hurt you? Of course, but the scope will be limited. However, there are plenty of people of there who are much better at doing these things and do them far more insidiously with far worse goals. I want you all to be able to realise before it's too late. I was in one of those much more insidious friendships once even if the goals weren't any worse than Samurai's. They sneak up on you so damn fast.

And now, because I know some of Samurai's entourage might be itching to hit me back with this: Why is this public? Shouldn't stuff like this be kept private? Isn't this just us bullying Samurai in the hallway where everyone can watch?

Now, if you're a specific person, you'll likely recognise these coming points because yes, they're lifted directly from your ask. However, seeing as this ask was not sent to me (I'll leave you guys to ponder why that is considering all other asks were) and has not been published because the recipient didn't want to spend their energy on it, I'm not going to say who the asker is nor am I going to be speaking to them directly in this part. Rebutting a statement no one but me and a few others have even read wouldn't be fair to the asker. However, the ask brings up some very common points in discussions like this that I want to catch right now before anyone starts thinking those points are good.

So first: Why is this public? Now, on the surface this seems quite reasonable to ask, right? I personally agree that private beef should stay private and that there's no need making a bigger scene out of things than necessary. But this beef isn't private. It's not a one-off thing, and it's not new. It's been happening for at the very least months and has been happening both publicly and privately on different social medias. Oh, also, it has already been attempted to be handled privately. Doing so did diddly squat. People have actually been scared into silence by attempting to handle it like that. Some things just cannot be handled one on one because one party is entering it with malicious intent.

Allegedly Samurai has also been called out in a Discord server before (no. 12) which I can't confirm but wouldn't surprise me. Guess how much that did. Nothing. Nada. Nul og niks. But then you might be asking why a second call-out is supposed to do anything, and that's where I get to the real point of this whole thing: Getting the word out. This and all the previous posts aren't about actually getting through to Samurai because I'm acutely aware that she won't actually change by being told off. She's demonstrated time and time again that she'll simply wait the situation out and then vaguepost about how much of a victim she is and how toxic her ex-friends are.

So, instead of getting her to own up, we're trying to reach everyone else. If we can make people aware of her tactics so that they can avoid her or at the very least be wary around her, I consider that a success. If we can limit her access to victims, we'll have done what we set out to do.

Second: What about Samurai's mental health? Aren't we hurting her by destroying her reputation? Well, dear reader, what about everyone she's hurt? Do they not deserve to talk about this stuff simply because it'll make Samurai upset? This might be a kind of wild suggestion, but there's a very easy way to not be publicly called out for being an arse: just don't be an arse. No one made her do these things. Like mentioned in no. 12, she destroyed her reputation all by herself. If stating aloud what someone has done ruins their reputation, then the person who did said things is at fault. Spare the messenger. They've already been hurt enough. If Samurai had simply owned up to her behaviour and apologised and made a change when people had called her out in the past, we wouldn't be here. She made this necessary. Don't feel bad for her that she's getting what was always coming to her.

Third: Why are we digging up old posts? Isn't it unfair to hold Samurai's past against them? Now, I want you to notice what this whole situation is actually about. Is it about a single incident? No. Is it about a set of repeated behaviours which are harmful and manipulative? Now you're onto something. I agree that digging up unrelated dirt on someone just to slander them for their past when it has no or an at best flimsy relation to what's actually being discussed is mean and unnecessary and should not be done.

However, the point of showing those older posts is to make it clear that this isn't a new thing, and it's repeated and unchanging. Bringing up their posts about being insecure and being sad about not getting traction isn't about those posts, it's about showing how much Samurai clearly cares about interaction and to point out a repeated behaviour of deflecting criticism by hiding behind insecurity and making their own fans feel bad about not being good enough. It's not about the posts. It's about explaining why Samurai is uncomfortable to be around.

Oh and fourth because this is the funniest thing: What about the new fans? They'll think we're all mean and negative! Okay so first of all, and please excuse my French, absolutely dogshit take. "What about the new fans?" Dude, what about the ones who are already here and are being driven away by Samurai's awful and demeaning behaviour? What about the people who've been hurt and are finally being heard? What about when the new fans see Samurai calling others acephobes and Nazis for disagreeing with her? Is that not driving them away? Is that not projecting negativity?

Now, yes, that was targeted towards the asker because oh my fucking stars, I haven't seen a take that bad in a while. If you want to ignore or criticise this point of mine, go ahead because I can't source it and the asker's full statement isn't publicly available so I'm aware that this is a weak argument. But I want everyone to know that if you've been ignored and demeaned and called names for simply trying to assert yourself, you're allowed to be negative publicly. You're allowed to publicly make it clear that someone isn't listening privately and so you're speaking in the only place they can't ignore. You're allowed to not be peachy and positive at all times just because a new fan might come across your post. You don't have to treat every post and word you make public as an exhaustive representation of the entire fandom.

And so, with all of this outlined, I have a personal message for Samurai and Co.: Do. Better. I know you can because I've seen you interact amicably with the fanbase multiple times. I'm not here to tell you to get off the Internet and I'm not here to get you to stop participating in fandom. What I am here for is to get you to treat the fanbase with the respect it deserves. You're not better than people just because you're queer. It's the Yuri!!! On Ice fandom. Basically everyone is queer. Get over yourselves. Develop some maturity and accept that you can be contradicted. Accept that not everyone will agree with you. Accept that just because you point really hard at canon, your analyses will still just be theories. And that's okay. You don't need to be an academic to be part of fandom. You don't even need to be right. You can be straight up wrong and still be allowed to be here. However, you also have to let others do all that stuff too. You can't tell people to be nice and then not be so yourself. Fandom is collaboration which means that sometimes you have to just accept that some members of the group have takes you disagree with or find straight up stupid. However, that does not give you the right to tell them they're doing fandom wrong or claim that your way of doing it is better. Because that's how you come across. Whether intentionally or not, that's the message you're sending. Stop acting suprior. It's actually very easy and frankly embarrasing that you haven't figured out how to not be insufferable yet. You're adults. Act. Like. It.

Finally, and I promise this will he the last thing: What do we do now? Samurai has been exposed, hasn't responded, and will probably just wait for this to blow over. What are we supposed to do with all this information? Well, you're free to choose of course, but my suggestion is to simply keep an eye on her and her entourage. They've so far showed no sign of wanting to change, and if you see them misbehaving, don't be afraid to hold them accountable, or, if you'd rather not be mixed up in this, feel free to shoot me a DM or even an anonymous ask. If I get enough reports or the reports are egregious enough, I might make a follow-up post just to keep people updated.

And if keeping a 40+ year old (yes, Samurai is really that old, I was shocked too) on an Internet leash seems extreme, just remember that she made it necessary. She clearly won't listen when people tell her directly how she's hurt them. In my opinion, some social pressure to behave is in order. All she has to do is be nice and nothing more will come of this. It's up to her. It takes a village and sometimes the entire fanbase.

So, it's up to you, Samurai. Your behaviour will be the direct catalyst for whatever I and others choose to do or not do. All you need to do is behave. If you can do that, we'll get to go our separate ways. If you can't, well, you've seen what that results in. But if you do legitimately make a visible effort to change, I'll gladly make a post about that too. I'm all for a redemption, but you're the one who has to put in the effort. Not your friends, not your fans, not your victims, not me.

Your choice. I'll be waiting.

And to anyone who's dying to tear my head off: Please read all the posts linked to at the top before responding. I'm not naming any names. You know who you are.

[autismagolor]

⚙️MAGOMARCH 2024 PROMPT LIST⚙️

WOW its finally here! so sorry for the delay, february's been kicking my ASS

anyways! WAHOOO MAGOMARCH 2024 EDITION YEAHHH we've got some new prompts, but also a couple of returning ones! for explanations for the free prompts and "gijinka/canon" prompts, check out the 2023 post here!

ALSO NEW THING: here's the document if you want a clearer look at the prompt list, terribly sorry i didnt do this last year!

DON'T FORGET TO USE THE MAGOMARCH TAG(S) WHEN POSTING YOUR ART!!

that will be all from me, if you need an explanation for any of the prompts, my askbox is open :3

[babydollmarauders]

MEDIA MANAGEMENT — JACK HUGHES (PART SEVEN)

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5- 5.5 - 6 - 7

y/ndevils00

liked by jackhughes, ehaula, and 28,628 others

y/ndevils00 hello everyone, welcome back to your postgame recap: blackhawks edition! unfortunately everyone’s favorite WAG (sorry girls) and social media manager: me, was unable to attend this road-trip due to illness. however, i, of course, still watched this game and have many a comments!

first, what the hell were these boys doing in first period that they couldn’t get a single goal against the blackhawks? had me yelling at the tv!

however, my favorite gingersnap got the first goal of the night 6:19 into the second period! GO HAM! I’M SO PROUD!

following that up, my uncle (we are still not related in any way) got his 11th goal of the season, tying up the game! really had me haula-ing! (get it? haula-ing? hollering? whatever!)

mere minutes after, my dear sweet boqy scored, making us end the second period up by 1!

we opened 3rd period with a camera shot of my boyfriend. that is the face of someone who misses his wonderful girlfriend and cannot wait to come home and take care of her while she is sick (jack come home. i think i need you more than they do.)

we kicked off 3rd period scoring with a goal by mr. edward cullen himself! he really does sparkle, doesn’t he! who knew vamps were so good at hockey?

with not even 4 minutes left in the game, we got an amazing wrap around shot by timo, who has yet to insult me again! i feel like a proud mother!

and lastly, my sweet baby, mercy put the nail in the coffin for this game with an empty net goal, bringing the final score to 6-3! dawson, you have never let me down, unlike your brother, john.

closing off this post, we have some adorable shots of captain swiss and lil jizzy with blackwood.

p.s. i’d like to bring everyone’s attention to my boyfriend’s hand. that’s my favorite hand, because it holds mine <3 jack come home, i have separation anxiety

tagged dougieham, ehaula, jesperboqvist, jackhughes, ryangraves27, tmeier96, dawson1417 and nicohischier

user oh no! i hope you feel better :(

john.marino97 i didn’t even do anything in this game and you still find a way to insult me

y/ndevils00 that’s exactly WHY i insulted you. do better.

jackhughes for once, you actually got what i was thinking about right

y/ndevils00 i’ve been saying you were thinking about me for so long, i was bound to be right eventually

jackhughes i miss you pretty girl

y/ndevils00 aww shucks, you’re making me blush 🤭

jackhughes nevermind never say that again

jackhughes you like my hand? you’re such a sap

y/ndevils00 let’s try that again

jackhughes i like your hand too?

y/ndevils00 why thank you! is it because it holds yours?

jackhughes dawson tells me i should say yes

y/ndevils00 well at least dawson understands how to be affectionate

ehaula i’m begging you to stop using my name as a pun

y/ndevils00 and i’m begging you to hop off my dick

dawson1417 @/y/ndevils00 y/n….

y/ndevils00 i mean, no, thank you. i would like to keep making my puns if that’s okay with you

ehaula since you asked so nicely.. still no

y/ndevils00 @/dawson1417 how do i work with this?

dawson1417 @/y/ndevils00 you stop making the puns?

y/ndevils00 @/dawson1417 i can’t do that

user67 sick y/n is so lovey, jack better get home asap

dougieham thank you, y/n!

y/ndevils00 you’re so welcome! now, will you bring me wawa when you guys get back?

dougieham i will. but does jack not feed you?

y/ndevils00 i don’t like his food

jackhughes @/y/ndevils00 you know i can see this right?

y/ndevils00 @/jackhughes no you can’t. this is a private conversation

jackhughes @/y/ndevils00 it’s really not

ryangraves27 i’m still not a vampire

y/ndevils00 i’ve never seen you eat garlic so i cannot rule it out as a possibility

ryangraves27 you’ve also never seen me drink blood though

y/ndevils00 look, i don’t know what you’re into

ryangraves27 i’m so confused

dawson1417 y/n, what do we say to marino?

y/ndevils00 @/john.marino97 i’m sorry and i love you both equally 🙄

john.marino97 @/y/ndevils00 this seems anything but genuine

y/ndevils00 dawson, he’s onto us! what do i do?

dawson1417 well i can tell you what you don’t do: that!

tmeier96 i think i learned my lesson from last time. i’ll never insult you again

y/ndevils00 good. actions have consequences and you’d do good to remember that!

nicohischier ❤️❤️

y/ndevils00 you are my favorite, swiss cheese

nicohischier i’m revoking my hearts

y/ndevils00 it’s too late, i already have them they’re mine now

[25centsoda]

DinLuke Fic in honor of AO3 Down

Chapter 1 of my five-chapter wip (currently getting my ass kicked by chapter 3) to feed the starving masses on this terrible day of AO3 Down. Fic and summary subject to change by the time I finish, edit, and finally post it. Fair warning this chap is 9 pages on my google doc.

Summary: After rescuing Grogu, Din retired to a quiet life as a lighthouse keeper with his son. Unfortunately, his life is determined to be anything but quiet.

Tags: Mermaid au, DinLuke, Din Djarin, Grogu, Luke Skywalker, Cara Dune, Moff Gideon, Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, Little Mermaid-ish, fantasy au, modern au, AAC, autistic Grogu, nonspeaking Grogu, Din was a hitman

EDIT: AUGH apparently AO3 came back up while I was posting. Was supposed to be down for 3 more hours...smh. Anyways, enjoy ig!

There was a merman lying on the rocky beach, above the tidal line, not twenty feet away.

Din rubbed his eyes. Blinked. The merman was still there.

He turned around.

Turned back.

Still there.

His gaze drifted up to the clouds as he thought, mind churning like stormy waves. Had he had breakfast that morning? Or water? Dehydration did things to the brain, right? Maybe the kid had kept him up too late and he was dreaming…

A rock landed very near his foot. He looked down.

The merman was waving to him. Propped up on one pale arm, with blue…gills? Fins? Waving merrily just behind his ears. There were more fins along the back of each arm. He was smiling and mouthing something, but no sound was coming out.

Din better not be hallucinating.

He picked his way across the rocks and stopped in front of the…fish. Man. Gods above, there were scales on this man’s bare stomach, and just below his belly button the skin faded entirely into blue scales, and his lower half was…

The merman flapped his tail, silently laughing. It slapped the ground with a wet sound.

Din could only stare.

The merman waved his hand, bringing Din’s attention back to his face, which was unfairly beautiful, a fact that Din elected to ignore. He began signing animatedly and mouthing something, but it wasn’t any sign language Din knew, and he’d never been great at reading lips.

Din shook his head. “Sorry, I don’t understand.”

The merman stopped signing with a huff. He bit his lip, looking around. There wasn’t much to see. This beach was isolated—that’s why Din had chosen it. There was nothing around except for chunks of pale rocks in varying sizes, the water, and, distantly, grassy dunes. And the lighthouse Din was paid to keep.

“Hold on,” Din said. He got several steps away before another thrown rock reminded him to say, “I’ll be right back. I’m going to get something that will help.”

It was a long walk back to the lighthouse, but it was a walk he made every other day, to ensure that nothing weird or dangerous had washed up. And it was a good thing, too, because evidently something had washed up. Or…someone? Din wasn’t really sure how to refer to a literal merman. He still wasn’t convinced that he hadn’t hallucinated the whole thing.

Grogu was waiting at the door for him, one little hand holding the doorframe as he leaned out of it, waving his device. “Ba!” he shouted. His black hair fell into his face—Din needed to cut it soon—as he looked down to make selections. As Din neared, the device read out, “Dad where go? Why back soon?”

Din tousled his son’s hair. “Just came back to grab something real quick, buddy. I’ve gotta go out again.”

Grogu tilted his head in question.

Din passed him, entering the kitchen. “I don’t know what I’ve found. Somebody that needs help, I think.”

.

.

.

Din made his way back to the beach. The merman was still there. Din wished he had thought to grab himself a bottle of water, or a snack or something, but the fact that the man was still there boded well for Din’s mental faculties, if not for the logic of the universe.

“Can you read English? D’you even know English? Do you know what I’m saying?”

Din felt stupid, talking to some hallucination-man-fish-thing, but the man nodded, so Din took that as a yes.

“Okay. Uh, well I have this.” He held out the communication board that he had brought. It was laminated—they all were, so that they would last longer—so it wouldn’t be bothered by the fact that the man reaching out a hand to take it was still dripping wet. Din had grabbed the hospital board rather than any of the core boards or fringe vocabularies, thinking that it would be the most useful. It wasn’t like Grogu already had a single-page board for mermaid trapped on the beach, and Din figured that the man was likely to be injured or hurting in some way, being so far up on the rocks. “Point to whatever you want to say.”

The merman examined the green board with interest, front and back. He seemed to read every icon carefully. The back had the alphabet and “YES”/”NO” along the bottom, a section labeled “I WANT”, a section labeled “I AM”, “I WANT TO SEE”, and a section containing icons for yes, no, thank you, stop, pen/paper. The front had pictures of a blank, uncolored body showing the front and back view with a pain scale in the middle, and icons describing different types of pain like itches, stings, can’t move. Along the sides of the front were requests for items, bathroom, and like that, don’t like, repeat that, speak louder.

After a while, Din said, “Well? Are you, uh, injured, or anything?”

The man scanned the board again, and finally pointed to the image of a glass labeled Water. As he did so, Din noticed that his fingers were webbed halfway together, with shimmering blue, nearly-transparent webbing. He looked up at Din.

“Right. Right.” Din found himself swinging his arms as he looked around the beach. He forced himself to stop. “I can. Uh.” How heavy could a fish-man be? Probably very heavy. Still—“I can bring you back to the ocean?”

The merman shook his head vehemently, eyes wide. Din noticed for the first time that they were blue, like the man’s fins. The man pointed to the red icon labeled NO over and over.

Din held up a placating hand. “Okay, okay. No ocean. Got it.” He didn’t understand in the slightest, but the message was clear. “What if I bring up a bucket?”

The man nodded.

Din…didn’t have a bucket on him. Luckily, there was a storage shed not too far from here—there was a dock about half a mile back. Once he had a bucket and filled it with water, he hesitated.

“Do you want me to just—” Din made a motion like he was going to throw the water on him.

The man gestured for the bucket. Din handed it over. The man dipped his hand in and splashed the water on the fins sticking out of his head.

Huh. Maybe those were his gills, or…something. Din didn’t exactly know that much about fish biology. Mostly what he knew about was killing. And, slowly, how to care for a nonspeaking toddler.

“Are you lost? Are you, uh, hungry?”

The man pointed to Thank you. 

Din was suddenly seized with the urge to know—”What’s your name? If—if you can spell it.” If a merman knew English, he could spell his name in English, right? Or would it be all clicks and whistles, like a dolphin?

He watched as the man spelled L—U—K—E.

“Luke.”

A nod and a smile.

“Luke,” Din said again, and wasn’t it enough that the man had an unfairly attractive face and, if he was already admitting things to himself anyway, body? Did he have to have a name that moved in Din’s mouth like that?

N—A—M—E—?

“What?”

Luke spelled it out again.

“Oh, my name.” Gods, Din was an idiot. “It’s Din. Din Djarin.���

Din. Luke mouthed the name, smiling. Din felt like he was going to combust.

“Uh, if you’re not going to go back in the ocean…” Din paused again. Luke shook his head wildly, almost unbalancing himself. Din forged on. “...would you like to come to my house? I have a bathtub I can fill with salt water for you; it’s probably more comfortable than these rocks.”

Luke pointed to Yes.

“Okay, great.”

It was quite the job getting Luke to his house. He’d thought he was pretty strong, but they had to take several breaks for Din to catch his breath. The merman was slimy in his arms, his scales rough. Luke held on to the (emptied) bucket and the hospital communication board. By the time they got back to the house, the sun was beginning to set, Din’s arms and shirt were rubbed raw, and Grogu was angry—at least, he was until he saw what Din had in his arms.

Grogu squealed. His device read out, “Mermaid! Mermaid! Mermaid!” He did a little dance, flapping his arms and twirling excitedly in the doorway.

“Move, kid,” Din grit out, muscles shaking. Luke waved from his arms.

Grogu got out of the way and Din made it all the way into the bathroom before he had to set Luke down again lest he drop him. Luke shivered on the cold tile. Din had to reach over him to turn on the tap. Grogu waited in the doorway, watching.

“Oh—sorry, do you need salt water?”

Luke pointed to Yes, his hands shaking. His golden-blond hair was drying now, into thick waves around his gills. Some of the blue spots on his skin were turning colorless, as well, which probably wasn’t great.

“Kid, stay with him a minute, I’m gonna get salt water.” Din pulled the drain open and stood, shaking off the water.

More buckets. More trips back and forth to the shore. It took more than Din had thought to fill up the bathtub. Luke splashed himself every so often as he waited. Grogu had brought in the whole folder of laminated communication boards, and pulled down the laminated booklet on a hook from the bathtub, and he and Luke were engaged in a vibrant conversation that meant that Din had to watch where he stepped lest he slip.

Finally, the tub was full, and Din hauled Luke up one last time, and into the water. Luke slapped his tail excitedly, splashing water everywhere. Grogu squealed, raising his little hands up to the sky. Din was entranced by the water shining off Luke’s blue scales, the almost translucent…skin?...on the bottom fin, the rigid, darker blue spines that held it together.

An alarm shook Din out of his thoughts.

He stood. “I’ve got to make dinner and get everything set up for the night. Are you two good here?”

Luke held up a beach vocabulary board and pointed to Yes. Grogu squealed again, nodding vigorously.

“Try not to make too much of a mess,” Din said. He put two towels on the floor in front of the tub, which soaked up some of the water. He held back a sigh. Fighting mold was a constant battle, in a building so close to the ocean. Hopefully any mold-related damages wouldn’t get taken out of his paycheck, even if they were in the bathroom and therefore probably his fault.

Attending to his regular duties kept Din’s mind off the merman in his bathroom for a while. He stood outside long enough to get a sense of the weather, and reported it on the radio, then listened to the airwaves for a while to see if there were any nearby boaters that needed rescuing—an über-rare occurrence, on this island. He briefly entertained the idea of radioing in his “rescue” of Luke, but what would he say? “I found a merman”? Saying that would be a one-way ticket to a psych eval if not a hospital stay - in other words, losing this safe haven where he and his son lived. Besides, without the merman in front of him, the whole thing felt like a dream. A dream that left raw skin on his chest and arms. A dream he wouldn’t breathe a word about.

He walked around the perimeter of the lighthouse and the station house, noting down any damages that would need repair or repainting soon. Took inventory of foodstuffs—they were starting to run low, but a supply was due in a week, and they had the garden, as long as a storm didn’t take it out. Tended the garden—ripped out some kudzu that kept somehow finding its way onto this isolated island, squirted bugs off the rosemary with one of Grogu’s little water guns. Checked on the water filters, generators, and radio antenna. Luckily everything was in decent order in spite of a day of neglect.

The sun was well and truly set by the time that Din went back inside the station house and started making dinner—chicken fingers, Grogu’s favorite. After some hesitation, he threw some frozen fish sticks on the baking tray as well. Maybe Luke would eat them. Din hadn’t gone fishing in a few weeks; Grogu had had him working their way through a craft book Cara had brought them at the last supply drop, which didn’t leave a lot of time for much beyond his daily duties, time consuming as they were. If Luke wanted fresh fish, Din could go fishing tomorrow.

He stacked up three plates on his arms and brought them into the bathroom. Not a large bathroom to begin with, it was a crowded space between the adult, the kid, and the mermaid. Setting his own on the white marbled sink countertop, he handed a plate of chicken fingers and broccoli to Grogu and a plate of fish sticks to Luke.

“It’s fish,” he explained. “With breadcrumbs.” At Luke’s blank look, Din hastily explained, “Bread is, uh, it comes from grain, wheat, and so it’s kind of…like…well, it’s a carbohydrate. I dunno if you have those in…the ocean. Try it, and tell me if you can eat it, or if you need something else.” He sorted through Grogu’s communication boards scattered on the tile floor, and found one with ocean creatures, which he set on the rim of the bathtub.

Grogu turned his nose up at the broccoli with a huff.

“Come on, kid, you’ve gotta have vegetables.” Din was too tired to really argue the point tonight, but Grogu didn’t need to know that.

Luke reached one dripping hand out of the tub and pointed to the broccoli on Grogu’s plate, with an encouraging sort of Go on expression, nodding. The broccoli got a little damp at the touch of his pale finger. Din grimaced, sure that the salt water would ruin whatever little chance there was of getting the kid to eat his vegetables.

Grogu surprised him by digging in.

Din blinked.

Alright then. He’d keep slightly soggy in mind, on his list of ‘things that get Grogu to eat.’ Kids were mysterious creatures sometimes.

Din ate his own plate of chicken fingers and broccoli sitting on the closed toilet seat, watching the two of them interact. It was, of course, mostly silent, occasionally interspersed with one of Grogu’s noises like “ba!” Luke picked at his fishsticks (after scraping off the breading), Grogu picked at his chicken fingers. Their hands were pretty occupied with the boards. At this angle, he couldn’t see all that they pointed to, but he saw the fairytale board, ocean, and mythology. And home.

.

.

.

After they finished eating, Din cleared the plates, and let Grogu and Luke talk for another hour while he cleaned up and checked the weather again.

“Alright kid, bedtime.”

“Ba!” Grogu said angrily, his little face scrunched up. Din’s heart melted in spite of himself. 

“No, come on, it’s time for bed.”

Luke waved his hand for Grogu’s attention. Once he had it, he exaggeratedly stretched and yawned, then put his hands together and leaned his head against them, breathing big in, and out. If he was underwater, Din was sure that there would be enormous bubbles coming out of his mouth, adding to the effect.

Grogu giggled. Luke peeked with one eye and smiled, then went right back to it.

Din gathered up all the communication boards and knocked them up on the counter, making them into a neat stack. He grabbed Grogu’s hand.

“Come on, I’ll sing to you.”

Luke broke out of his acting and waved goodbye, flapping his hand.

“I’ll check on you before I go to bed,” Din promised over his shoulder. He left the door open a crack, so that Luke could hear them move around and know that he hadn’t been left in the house alone.

Luckily Grogu’s room had a bathroom attached to it, so he could still have a quick bath—the salt water he and Luke had been splashing in all evening didn’t count—and brush his teeth before bed. Din brushed his teeth beside Grogu, glad for once that he still kept his toothbrush on his nightstand instead of in the main bathroom, an old habit from more chaotic days.

Finally, Din got Grogu clean, dry, in pajamas, and tucked into bed with his favorite frog plushie.

Din knelt beside his bed with a groan, cursing old injuries and unstretched muscles. “Alright, kid, what do you want me to sing?”

Grogu made grabby hands for his device. Din pulled it off the charger and handed it over. Grogu navigated through the pages swiftly, before finally selecting, “Sun.”

“Alright.” Din cleared his throat, and began to sing. “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me hap-py, when skies are gray.”

Grogu snuggled down in his blankets, clutching his favorite Froggie close to his chest, watching Din with absolute love and trust in his eyes. It made Din’s heart clench. Stars, he loved this kid. He would move heaven and earth for him. He had, when he’d rescued him. Although really, it was Din that had been rescued that day.

He reached a hand out and caressed the soft brown hair atop Grogu’s head. “You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don’t take, my sun-shine a-way.” He kissed his son’s forehead. “You all ready for sleep, big guy?”

Grogu squealed softly.

“Alright.” Din pressed his forehead to Grogu’s one last time as he took his device and set it on the bedside table, and turned out the light. “If you need anything, just yell.”

He closed the door softly, leaving just a crack to let light through.

Luke was waiting in the bathroom, arms folded on the rim of the bathtub, his head resting on top. He perked up when Din came in, but not much.

“How’s your, uh, oxygen?”

Luke gave a thumbs up.

“Tired?”

Luke nodded.

“Yeah, me too.” His muscles were certainly sore from lugging all that water and the merperson. He needed to work out more, probably. As busy as this job kept him, it didn’t maintain his physical fitness the way he used to. He’d let himself get…soft, as Grogu’s dad.

“You good for the night? Need any fresh water?”

Luke shook his head. Thankfully. Din didn’t particularly want to go out in the pitch dark. It would be hard to hold a flashlight and a full bucket at the same time.

“Can you write?” At Luke’s nod, Din took out a weather resistant notepad and pen and set them on the rim of the bathtub beside Luke’s head. “We’re expecting a supply run in a day or so. If you need anything, or want anything, I can radio shore and have it delivered then.”

The merman perked up. Thank you!!! he wrote, with three exclamation marks. Din huffed a laugh.

Luke wrote, head bowed, for a while. Din watched his golden hair, long dried except around his…gills, bounce softly, reflecting the overhead light. It was mesmerizing, like watching light bounce off of water.

When Luke held up the notepad again, Din had to shake himself a little to refocus.

Salmon

Oysters

Something soft to lay on the side

Something I can help you with, as payment for taking me in

Din blinked. “I don’t need you to help me with anything.”

Luke’s gaze was pleading. No: Begging.

Din shook his head. “Really. Most of my job you can’t help me with anyway; unless you can repaint the lighthouse or pull weeds.”

Luke frowned, his lip stuck out. Din couldn’t help having a little thrill at the sight. It was adorable.

“Really! I guess I could…” He really thought about it. He supposed…that the counter could use a little basket for his keys. One of Grogu’s favorites from the craft book was basket-weaving. He could show Luke how to do it, and thus keep them both occupied, and Luke could feel useful. “Do you know how to weave baskets?”

Luke nodded eagerly.

“I’ll collect some materials for you from the wildflower garden tomorrow. Grogu can help.” Din broke off with a yawn. “I’ll tell our supplier to get the rest of it. Sleep well.”

Luke pointed at Din and mimed sleeping, with his head on his hands, then nodded as if to say You too.

Din smiled and turned to go. He paused in the doorway with his hand on the light switch.

“On or off?”

Luke tilted his head, brow furrowed. To demonstrate, Din flicked the lights off, then back on. Then again, saying out loud which was which.

“Thumbs up, on. Thumbs down, off.” He showed how to do it as he spoke. Luke gave a thumbs down. “Lights off it is,” he said, turning them off. “Goodnight. See you in the morning.”

He left the door cracked open again and made his way up the stairs, stifling a yawn.

He wouldn’t be surprised if the bathroom was empty in the morning. Weirder things had happened.

Although, if he was honest with himself—no, weirder things hadn’t happened. Sure, he’d had some odd jobs in his old life, but none of it had involved the supernatural. No, it was all kingpins and businessmen and whistleblowers, hackers, grifters, thieves, and the occasional unopened suitcase. Once, on his last job, a child. Never a merman.

Well, this made two that he’d kept instead of killed. Two that he’d saved.

He’d definitely gone soft.

But he found…he didn't mind it.

[cosmicstarlatte]

Devil-Mart: Shopping (Obey Me!)

━━━━━━━━━━ ✦ ━━━━━━━━━━

The brothers and you go grocery shopping. You can imagine what that's like.

»Characters: Demon Bros + very brief Dia and Barb

»Tags: Shitpost, Some Wholesomeness, Levi my boy, Dia is precious as usual, Bulleted Style

»Notes: Sorry I know I've mentioned this a few times but finally edited it to my liking. :'3 Alternatively I have another fic where they actually work at Devil-Mart if you haven't read that one lol.

Lucifer:

Grabs two carts, one being a race car type with two seats

"Levi! Belphie! Get in!"

OF COURSE HE STRAPS THEM IN

Puts a backpack leash on Asmo

"Beel, Mammon, get a cart each."

They're a big family so yeah they need a lot lol

"Satan, stay where I can see you!"

This man pulls out a CVS-receipt type of shopping list

You can practically hear western showdown music as he stares down another customer for the last bag of spicy newt chips

Hands Satan Asmo's leash

He wins the last bag of course

"SATAN! ASMO! Where did you go!?"

(Later)

"I have a coupon for this."

"Well the sale sign said-"

"Here's my rewards card."

"I have reusable bags, thank you."

Mammon:

Thinks grocery shopping is boring but only goes because of you

Is the reason the store started locking more stuff up behind glass cases

Has tried to bargain with workers and hopes it works one day

Confidently accepted Satan's bet (you tried to stop it)

He left his shopping cart with you

Next thing you know he gets on the intercom

"Lucifer! Daddy will find you! Don't cry! If anyone sees a black haired-"

Lucifer drop kicked him knocking him unconscious

[Security Liked This 👍 ]

Levi:

Happily gets in Lucifer's cart and continues gaming on his console

Is use to Lucifer strapping him in

Finds it oddly comforting

"Lucifer can we get the Ruri chan limited edition cereal!?"

"It's on the list."

"Lucifer! Don't forget we need more Hell Sodas!"

"It's on the list."

"Oh and my special Ruri shamp-"

"Leviathan."

[A few minutes later]

"...Hey Lucifer!"

"LEVIATHAN."

Satan:

Didn't want to come but Lucifer makes grocery shopping a family outing

Walks around reading a book

Bet Mammon he wouldn't get on the intercom and embarrass Lucifer

He knew he'd do it

He happily threw the grimm on his unconscious body

He took out the last jar of inferno bee honey from a families cart when they weren't looking

Occasionally crosses off Lucifer's snacks so he forgets them

Decided to ''save'' Asmo when he got the chance

Asmo:

Not the first time he's been on a leash

Just typed away on his D.D.D

Keeps trying to flirt with any cutie he sees

Lucifer yanks him away every time

However Lucifer does use him for discounts at the meat deli

Asmo doesn't mind he always treats it like a game to see what he can get 😏

Employees have fought for the chance to help him if he requires assistance

Was thankful when Satan saved him from Lucifer's watch

They went shopping at the cafe book store next door

Beel:

Loves grocery shopping, loves it

Always has to eat a giant meal before shopping otherwise he can't go

Food and family outing only the best duo!!!

Always feels guilty knowing the list is long because of him but he does his best to help Lucifer shop for the items

Pushed one cart with food and pulled the other with an unconscious Mammon inside

Is the reason the store stopped doing free samples

Belphie:

Immediately started snoozing when Lucifer strapped him into the cart

Doesn't care much for grocery shopping but doesn't fight it

Grannies always coo over him while he sleeps

"Oh what a cutie! The other one is kind of odd though..."

Lucifer always carries a sleeping Belphie back to the van while Beel packs the back of the van with you

Sure Beel could carry him but Lucifer insists its Beel's duty to help with grocery shopping as much as he can

Lucifer won't admit he has a soft spot for the youngest

Belphie won't admit he pretends to sleep so he can be carried by Lucifer

As you guys leave, you see Barbatos walking in, pushing Diavolo in his own race car cart who is happily "steering".

"We're going to the chips, Barbatos!"

"No, we are here for dinner ingredients my Lord."

"But I'm turning left!"

->[Dia & Barb art]

⬦You might also like: Coconut︱Mexican Restaurant︱Waffle House︱ You ARE The Father

[honey--wraith]

livv, i need you to know and understand one thing. i have never, not once, cried at an edit. never even thought i would. yours just took me out. i lost it at the end. you will be hearing my attorney. you won't get away with this blatant attack on my feelings. you're wonderful but you need to pay for you somehow. <3

shan!!!!!! kicking my feet and giggling when I see your name in my inbox you're so incredibly sweet and I'm so sorry for the emotional damage i've caused you

using this to give a kind of long-winded explanation of my thoughts behind this edit time 2 shout into the void but!

as I briefly mentioned in my original tags this song is based on a story from Dante's The Divine Comedy in which Francesca da Rimini is in the second circle of hell (lust) for her forbidden love affair. she tells Dante that she refuses to have any sort of regret for the affair. she would sacrifice any chance of a life beyond hell to be with her lover and would go through the torture and damnation to do it all again.

now I think a pivotal part of what interests me so much about beejhawk and their dynamic is they're both in the midst of the worst part of their lives. they are seeing hell everyday in the war and violence and death around them. for them to find each other in that is nothing short of a miracle. i was actually originally going to try to create some kind of time loop narrative with this edit (largely inspired by Al's writing) of them choosing time and time again to go through hell again and again "I'd tell them put me back in. darling I would do it again. If I could hold you for a minute" but it quickly got too hard and complex so instead i tried to show a lot of comparisons between WTK and GFA. more of a symbolic way of showing, as I believe, they would both go through the worst years of their lives again because in the end, it led them to meet each other "I'd tell them put me back in. And I would do it again."

ANYWAY! sorry for using you as an outlet for my rambling but thank you so so much for your very good message <3

[bubblegumbarbie33]

✨ AO3 Wrapped 2024 ✨

1. How many words have you written this year? I got about 33,385 words written this year, mostly with Lost Boys and Gallavich fics, but one Communtiy Trobed work.

2. How many works did you publish this year? Four- which is much more than I posted last year lol

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)

Definitely Choose Your Last Words, I wrote the more chapters for that fic than any other work, and it was so much fun! It was a very light and easy write for the most part because I didn't have to worry as much about a heavy plot or keeping in line with canon.

4. What work of yours has the most hits?

This year, and of all time, it's Don't Forget Me, with 3,952 hits. Hmmmm, maybe I should continue working on that one...

5. What work of yours got more feedback than you expected? 

Weirdly enough The Best Kept Secret of Carl Gallagher- I think of it as like an average piece of writing but 32 people have bookmarked it so 🤷‍♀️

6. Favorite title you used.

Probably 'Don't Forget Me (Like the Tunnel Under Ocean Boulevard)' GUYS I KNOW LANA IS CANCELLED I'M SORRY-

7. If you use song lyrics, which artist's songs did you pull from the most?

Lana Del Ray 😔✋

8. Pairing you wrote the most for this year? Ian and Mickey from Shameless 🙏

9. Favorite pairing you wrote for this year?

I became OBSESSED with the Lost Boys in fall of this year and I just love writing all of their dynamics- in my head they're definitely a little polycule

10. What work was the quickest to write?

Probably Let the Light In, I think I slammed that out in one night plus some editing the next day.

11. What work took you the longest to write?

I don't really know because none of them are like, finished? But I'd guess either Choose Your Last Words or Daddy's Gonna Buy You a Mockingbird

12. How many WIPs do you have in your docs for next year?

Hm? :|

13. What's your longest work of the year?

Daddy's Gonna Buy You a Mockingbird. 15,663 in two chapters, I guess I was on a roll :p

14. What's your shortest work of the year?

Did It Hurt When I Kicked You to The Curb- only 2,207 words of Trobed 😔

15. What WIP are you taking into next year with you?

Hopefully Choose Your Last Words This is the Last Time, and maybe some of my shameless fics

16. What's your most common "Additional Tags" tag?

Oh boy. Protective Mickey Milkovich, Mickey Milkovich Loves Ian Gallagher, Angst with a Happy Ending

17. Your favorite character to write this year?

Probably any of the Lost Boys or Mickey Milkovich

18. The character who gave you the most trouble writing this year?

Hm, maybe Carl. I feel like his character just has so much variation throughout the series so really nailing down his core characteristics is hard.

19. What's one pairing you want to explore next year?

I'd love to write a platonic Breagan fic. (Brett and Reagan from Inside Job)

20. Which work of yours have you reread the most?

Either Daddy's Gonna Buy You a Mockingbird or Choose Your Last Words

21. How many kudos in total did you get this year?

837- thanks guys! I can't believe 837 people have read and enjoyed my writing!

22. Which work has the most comments?

Don't Forget Me with twenty-two, granted a lot of those are just me replying with thank-yous lol

23. Did you do any collaborative works this year?

No. :0

24. Did you write any gifts this year?

Nope. :p

25. Did you receive any gifts this year?

nuh uh

26. What's your most common category/trope?

Definitely a lot of Domestic Fluff vibes

27. What do you listen to while writing?

If there's a lot of noise in my house, I'll listen to white noise or classical music, but otherwise silence. Sometimes if I'm fixated on a song like Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl or Sun-Bleached Flies I'll listen to that on repeat

28. Favorite work you wrote this year?

Probably Choose Your Last Words, I just had so much fun messing around with those characters

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

I have a hard time choosing, so I'll pick a few honorable mentions from my comments:

"David cards a hand through Michael’s hair, and Michael actually sighs. It makes David want to stab something in the chest. Maybe himself." - Choose Your Last Words

“Mickhailo, I am being deported. Keep baby in America where he will be safe. I will send money and letters. Don’t lose him or kill him. You were shit husband- be better father. What you Americans say? Lots of love. Goodbye.” - Daddy's Gonna Buy You a Mockingbird

“I bottom, alright?  Liking what I like don’t make me a bitch- and don’t let anyone tell you you’re a bitch for it either.  In fact, anyone in this neighborhood calls you a bitch, you come find me.” - Daddy's Gonna Buy You a Mockingbird

“So now, he’s just lying in bed with his boy-something, almost like a normal pair of… people who really like to fuck.” - Don't Forget Me

30. Biggest surprise while writing this year?

How much I enjoyed it. :)

[questersrest]

(sorry this is a side blog, dumblr only lets your reply to posts from your main)

anyway, another long infodump ahead (i get possitive responses from my followers when i do this so i will not apologise)

yeah, the room to the left in the quester's rest populates with player's you've tagged (talk to erinn, ask to canvass for guests) up to 6.

once you reach your 7th guest, the barrier is removed from the stairs to access the first floor (second floor for y'all americans) and erinn will explain she had to open it up to make room for more guests. on that floor, you'll find a door and more stairs barred off. the area will populate with another 6 guests.

at your 13th guest, well, first you'll find the whole interior of the quester's rest has been upgraded. but also erinn will have unbarred the door upstairs to make room for another 6 guests.

at your 19th guest, erinn will unbar the stairs to the second floor (third floor). there's another barred door there.

with your 25th guest, the quester's rest interior will upgrade againthe door on the top floor will open and you'll see you finally have room for the whole 30 guests.

if you have more than 30 guests, they start replacing the oldest ones but you can show guests to the royal suit so they never leave (ask erinn to view the guestbook).

when you reach the max capacity of 30, you'll get access to the basement. there's a fountain down there that spawns items, some of the items you find may differ from other players due to a hidden fountain group value in your save file. there are 4 spots where items spawn but a new spot gets added for every 100 players you tag up to 10 additional spots (14 total) at 1000 players. there's also accolades for tagging certain numbers of players up to 1000.

if you ever connected to wifi (ps while ds wifi was discontinued in 2014, there are fan replacement servers you can connect to, ask me about them for more info. otherwise, you can hack this stuff in with the save editor), you probably have the special inn guests from previous games who's rooms you can access from the elevator operator who takes you to the royal suites. they all have 3-5 pieces of gear to give you to dress up as them. they will all have one to give you the first time you talk to them, one to give you on your birthday (birthday in ingame profile settings matches date on your ds), and one to give you when the in is fully expanded. (they may also have one they give you if you talk to them as a certain vocation and/or one after a certain quest. they will also give you birthday cakes and/or party poppers on your birthday, these could only otherwise be obtained from the dqvc - the fan servers do NOT operate dqvc themes that had them. and 1 birthday cake is required for an extra quest so don't go using those up. one extra quest requires dressing as borya; borya will only give you his shoes when the inn is fully expanded. i bought borya's shoes from the dqvc in 2014 instead, the fan servers do NOT run the theme with those either. if you're fine with using a save editor you can hack all this stuff in instead if you want).

in tag mode you can also share a copy of any treasure maps. you can't tag the same player, every save has a uuid (universal unique identifier) so your save will know if it's the same player. but if they've left your inn (either bc you've got more than 30 and they were kicked out, or you manually kicked them from the guest book), you can tag them again. it WON'T count as an additional guest but you can share another map this way.

deleting a save file will delete the uuid so you can reset the save file on another copy over and over, playing through the first 2 hours of the game to reach the quester's rest, then tagging your main copy. this is what i've been doing, it's slow but i'd prefer to avoid hacking my original copy if possible.

EDIT: almost totally forgot i was gonna add a video. if you'd like to see what the inn expansions look like, here's a video. looks like the uploader is enhancing the graphics in an emulator. they also have no actualy guests in the rooms so they probably just unlocked them with the save editor

[summerwritesfics]

🗺️But Suddenly It Seems Like I Can’t Get Enough

Pairing: Hanzo Hasashi/Kuai Liang Length: 1232 Words Rating: Teen Warnings: Modern AU, Chess, Chess Tournaments, Friendly Rivalries, Rivalry, Rival Relationship, First Meetings, Author doesn’t know how to play chess AU-Gust 2024 Day 5: Chess Players

AU-Gust 2024 Masterlist

Notes: Sorry if this isn’t edited too good today, I’m not feeling great :( But hey, enjoy Kuai Liang getting excited about finding a rival :3 Also as I said in the tags, I have 0 idea how to play chess, so you’ll probably notice a suspicious absence of anyone actually playing chess, in this fanfic about a chess tournament. Title is from Cut The Crap by Alice In Videoland.

“Checkmate.”

Kuai looked up from his move, staring across at his opponent. Hanzo Hasashi sat opposite, mouth agape as he stared at the board in front of him. This local tournament was small, with only a handful of contenders each year. Kuai was new to the area, and thus new to the chess scene here, but he’d been told at length what a juggernaut Hanzo was. He’d been undefeated for about 5 years in a row, his name feared by all the other contenders.

And Kuai Liang had just won against him.

It seemed even Hanzo was stunned by this turn of events, as his eyes darted around the table, trying to work out where he went wrong and what he’d missed.

“And we have our new champion, Song Kuai Liang,” the announcer cheered, oblivious to the general shock in the room. No one seemed to really know how to react, but Kuai could hear whispers between people.

Hanzo pushed himself to stand up, and Kuai followed his lead, somewhat surprised when the man offered his hand to shake. Kuai accepted, but couldn’t miss the frustration on his face. Thankfully though, he didn’t say anything, so he was at least a graceful loser even when he clearly wasn’t happy about it.

Kuai was rapidly whisked away by the organisers. He shook hands and was congratulated greatly. The trophy was small, but somehow still heavy. He wondered if he’d struggle with carrying it home. Still, he stuck around a bit, took a few photos with it for the local papers. Then got a round of congratulations from people within the crowd. The entire time, he didn’t see so much as a glimpse of Hanzo. Maybe the man had left already. Kuai wasn’t sure.

Finally, things died down, and he was able to collect his belongings and start considering how he was getting home. He pulled out his phone, hoping maybe he could get a ride from Bi-Han. If he was out of work, of course.

[Kuai Liang said: Hey, are you done with work?] [Bi-Han🖤 said: Yes. Just debating getting something to eat or whatever.] [Bi-Han🖤 said: Aren’t you doing your nerd shit today?] [Kuai Liang said: I just finished! Any chance I can get a ride?] [Kuai Liang said: Just… The trophy’s kind of heavy 🤭] [Bi-Han🖤 said: Wait, trophy?] [Bi-Han🖤 said: Holy shit, you actually won?!?] [Kuai Liang said: Yes I won 🏆🏆🏆] [Kuai Liang said: Wait, hold on, what do you mean “actually” 😐] [Bi-Han🖤 said: Never mind that. I’m coming to get you.] [Bi-Han🖤 said: We’re going to go get food to celebrate!] [Kuai Liang said: You know I didn’t win any money right? Just a trophy?] [Bi-Han🖤 said: Who cares! You fuckin’ won! We can celebrate that regardless!] [Bi-Han🖤 said: I’m on my way!] [Kuai Liang said: Thanks big brother. I’ll be waiting outside 😁]

He slipped his phone away, threw his backpack over his shoulder and picked up the trophy. He looked at it, smiling before turning to leave the building.

As he stepped outside, he noticed someone standing to one side. He turned his head enough to see Hanzo, leaning against the wall and smoking a cigarette. They stared silently at each other for a minute, and Kuai wondered if Hanzo had as little clue what to actually say as he did.

“Um. Good game,” Kuai decided to comment, immediately kicking himself. Of course it was a good game for him, he’d fucking won it.

“It was,” Hanzo sighed, pushing himself away from the wall and walking over. “You’re a very skilled player. How long have you been at it?”

“Since I was about… 8? I think?” It was roughly that age anyway. He’d been interested in it for a little longer than he’d started playing. “My Grandfather had a chess set when I was young, and I was fascinated by it. So one day, he brought me my own set and taught me how to play.”

Those were good times. His Grandfather could be a very stern man, but it was stated by everyone how much his heart seemed to soften after the births of his Grandchildren. Bi-Han was more insistent that it was Kuai Liang specifically who seemed to win him over. Kuai had been a sickly child, and something about that triggered a change in their Grandfather. Kuai wasn’t sure, all he knew was that his childhood was a warm one, full of love, thanks in part to Grandfather.

“Well, he did a good job teaching you.” Hanzo threw his cigarette down to the floor, stamping it out. “You’re the first real challenge I’ve had in a while.”

“Thank you,” Kuai said with a smile, feeling his face heat up slightly. “You weren’t an easy opponent to beat yourself.”

Hanzo smirked and chuckled before adding “next time, I’ll make sure it’s even harder.”

“I wouldn’t want it any other way, Mr. Hasashi.”

He held his hand out to shake again, and as their hands met, Kuai looked Hanzo in the eye. It was clear that their match had sparked something between them. A desire to win, and to best an opponent that they respected. It looked like future tournaments in this town were going to be very interesting.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Bi-Han’s dark blue car pull up next to them.

“Ah, sorry, that’s my ride,” he explained, releasing the other man's hand and pulling away. “Take care.”

“You too,” Hanzo replied, returning to his spot against the wall. Kuai briefly wondered if he was waiting for someone too, but decided not to ask.

He ran over to Bi-Han’s car, throwing open the door and slipping into the front passenger seat. Bi-Han was peering out the car window towards Hanzo with a frown on his face.

“Who’s that guy?” Bi-Han asked, in a tone Kuai was far too familiar with. It was his overprotective big brother tone.

“His name’s Hanzo, he’s the guy I beat to win.” He stared at Hanzo, and then looked down at his own reflection in the metal of the trophy. “I think he’s my rival now!”

“Only you could sound so happy about something like that.” Bi-Han shook his head, pushing his foot against the excelerator, as they began to pull out of the parking lot. “You know this is real life and not one of your fanfics right? You and this guy aren’t going to suddenly start making out in the middle of a game.”

“That’s not why I’m happy about it. I’m just happy to have someone so good to play against.” He paused for a few moments, pursing his lips. “Also you don’t know for definite that won’t happen.”

Bi-Han rolled his eyes, but didn’t touch on the subject more as he asked “so, where do you want to go to eat? Your choice, seeing as you’re the one with something to celebrate.”

“Can we go to the Korean barbecue then?” He asked, glancing in the rear view mirror to look for Hanzo one last time. He could just about see him walking over to get into a car himself. Strange, but he supposed maybe he’d wanted the cigarette before leaving.

“Sure thing.”

Kuai settled down, running his hand along the edges of the trophy. He was going to have to get a lot of practice in if he wanted to win the next one.

[crispycreambacon]

HELLO AGAINN !! ^O^ IT’S THE ANON FROM THE OTHER DAY !!! JUST FELT LIKE SENDING A FOLLOW-UP ASK ,, ^_^

FIRST OFF , OH MY GODDD ?1??1 I WAS ABSOLUTELY NOT EXPECTING SUCH A HEARTFELT RESPONSE WHAT THE HELL ,,, I’M SO GLAD THAT MADE YOUR DAY SO MUCH ?1?2?1? SNIFFFLLESS ,,😢😢

ALSO !!!! I DIDN’T MENTION IT IN THE FIRST ASK BUT SOMETIME BETWEEN WHEN I SENT THAT AND NOW , I READ YOUR TRANS PROFESSOR FIC AND OHHH MY GODDDDDDD . THAT WAS SO . HOLY FUCKING SHIT . GENUINELY SPEECHLESS .

I READ IT AT LIKE 1AM ON A SCHOOL NIGHT AND AAAUUUGGHFHF THAT HIT LIKE A TON OF BRICKS ,, I WAS LITERALLY LIKE THAT ONE “light work , no reaction ! OOHHH… OKAY IT’S GOT A LITTLE KICK…” VIDEO WHILE READING… NOT TO MENTION THAT I LISTENED TO ANTHEMS FOR A SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD-GIRL AS I READ .

WHILE I DID SOB SEVERAL TIMES WHEN READING , THAT DOES NOT MAKE THIS ANY LESS OF A POSITIVE MESSAGE !!!! I AM YET TO REREAD IT , BUT THE FIC MEANT SO MUCH TO ME , AS SOMEONE WHO HASN’T FELT SURE OF THEIR GENDER LIKE… FOREVER . AND EVENTUALLY JUST GAVE UP FIGURING IT OUT . ( & also had friends that suspected i may be non-binary …. haven’t officially went with any label yet though )

I RESONATED WITH CONNIE SO MUCH WHILE READING ,,, TO THE POINT I HAVE SINCE BEEN CONSIDERING STEALING HIS NAME . IT’S SO INSANE TO ME TOO BECAUSE I’VE NEVER FELT SO STRONGLY ABOUT A POTENTIAL ADDITION TO MY RELATIVELY SHORT LIST OF NAMES ??? AND IT’S MOSTLY DUE TO YOUR FIC ,, I EVEN HAVE A PROFILE OF ONE OF THE PIECES GOING WITH THE FIC BECAUSE OF HOW MUCH IT RESONATED WITH ME . ( WITH CREDITS OFC DWWW !!! ^_^ )

ANYWAYS MOVING ON FROM THAT !!! I’M VERY GLAD TO HEAR I CAN USE YOUR ART FOR EDITS !!! ^O^ I ACTUALLY TRIED TO EDIT YOUR PUPPET HISTORY GOD ART EARLIER TODAY ,,,, UNTIL I DISCOVERED THAT CAPCUT DECIDED TO MAKE MOTION BLUR A PRO FEATURE . WHICH SUCKS ASS , CONSIDERING HOW IMPORTANT MOTION BLUR IS IN TRANSITION EDITS ,,, AND HOW I LACK CAPCUT PRO 😞😞 BUT WHENEVER I RECOVER FROM THAT !!!! BE READY FOR AN EDIT !!!! ^_^

ANYWAAAYSS THIS WAS MUCH LONGER THAN ANTICIPATED ,,, HERE IS A GOLD STAR FOR MAKING IT THIS FAR & HAVE A FABULOUS DAY !!!! ^O^ ⭐️

- 🦇

Hello... Sorry for taking a while to respond to you. Life's been kinda busy on my end 😅

But waugh... it really means a lot to see you and your kind words again. I'm so so happy that Snip Snip resonated so strongly with you especially since I poured a lot of my experiences as a non-binary person into the fic. And it's incredible that you potentially found a new name through this fic!! Oh my gosh, I'm actually tearing up as I type this.. It really is heartwarming knowing the impact that fic had on you <3

Best of luck in your journey! Just a reminder that while labels can provide a sense of comfort and community, they aren't as important as the internet makes them out to be. You don't need to label your identity to have your identity be valid. You are welcome in the LGBT+ community regardless of whether you know what your gender is or not. Experiment with labels if you'd like—you can always change your mind about them—and do what is best for you.

And THAT IS FOUL OF CAPCUT TO DO OH MY GOSH??? Editing programs stop gatekeeping important features through subscription fees challenge... Agh, I hope you'll get around this problem. I really am so excited to see the edit. Again, PLEASE tag me or send me a link through DMs. I'd be more than happy to check it out :]

Once again, thank you so much for this incredibly sweet message 🫂 I hope you are doing well, and may you have fabulous days ahead of you ^^

[rainpebble3]

WIP Wednesday

Thank you so much to @thequeenofthewinter for the tag. And what a lovely snip you shared <3

I'll tag @mareenavee @paraparadigm @kookaburra1701 @orfeoarte @archangelsunited @gilgamish @thana-topsy @tallmatcha @snippetsrus @rhiannon1199 @inquisitiondragonborn @the-storytellers-seer @elfinismsarts @friend-of-giants @saltymaplesyrup @changelingsandothernonsense @thelightofmorning @dirty-bosmer

I wish I had more to share but words haven't been wording so please enjoy my paltry offering of Nera chatting to Savos :)

edit: ooops almost forgot some screenies :D

Chapter 11 - Still 😅

He held up a hand, “Brelyna’s mother is not named Savyana. The Maryon family has always been close to mine and I have known Brelyna since she was a child. So, could you perhaps tell me the truth before I summon some atronachs to escort you from my college?”

His college?! Nera swallowed, struggling to get past the knot forming in her throat. Her next words came out in a harried wheeze. “My name is really Nera, I met Brelyna in Windhelm… she…” Nera stopped and clenched her fists. She shook herself before continuing. She couldn’t lose her chance to escape the frozen pit of Oblivion she had been born in.

Master Aren watched quietly. “Windhelm?”

Nera nodded. “Yes. I was born there and well, Brelyna was passing through on her way here and she saved me from…” Rolff’s words from her nightmare echoed violently in her ears and Nera shuddered before continuing, “Brelyna saved me from an attack. She used magic against him and told me to come with her for my own safety.”

“You’re from the Gray Quarter?”

Unable to stop herself, Nera flinched. “Yes, sir.”

“Your assailant, I presume he was a Nord?”

She paused at the question, it caught her off guard for a moment. It wasn’t what she was expecting. Eventually she nodded and Master Aren sighed. Neither one of them spoke for a while, but Nera was kicking herself for being caught out like this. Gods what if she got Brelyna kicked out too?

“I hope this doesn’t affect Brelyna’s future here,” she suddenly whispered. “Please, Master Aren, she just wanted to help me out of a bad situation…”

“I’m glad she did,” he interrupted before sighing again, running a hand through his bone white hair and lowering his hood. “Given what you have said, I fear I already know the answer, but I must still ask. Are things still as bad as they were years ago? The last time I visited it was… it was terrible.”

Nera hugged herself tightly. “It’s worse. My parents discouraged me from doing anything that would have brought any attention to my existence as a Dunmer.”

This seemed to upset him, and his lined face furrowed. “Damn it. I had hoped things would improve with time.”

“You and my father both.”

Master Aren eyed her. “Are your parents…?”

“They’re alive, and as well as they can be.”

“And they approved of you leaving with a stranger?”

She shook her head. “Not at all, my father said if I left, I was no longer…” she stopped as tears suddenly choked her. She sniffed and blinked them away. “I was no longer part of their family.”

“You seem upset by this?” he asked, and she nodded. “So why do it?”

Nera couldn’t explain why the words fell so freely, they just did. Something about Master Aren made her feel safer, perhaps it was some strange illusion magic or something else. “Because if I stayed, I would be dead. Or I would be trapped, powerless for the rest of my life. Something which could be easily ended by those Nords, and no one would care.”

Master Aren tugged on his beard as he digested her words. He finally nodded. “I understand. And I will continue as if you were Miss Maryon’s sister.”

The tension left her body and she nearly crumpled to her knees. “Thank you, Master Aren.”

He frowned at her. “I’m sorry for the circumstances which brought you here, but as long as you abide by our rules, you will always be welcome here.”

She nodded, clenching her fists tightly. “Yes, thank you.”

He rose with a groan and began walking back towards the main building of the college. “So, did she move?” he asked.

Nera glanced at the statue of Azura. The sun had risen higher, and the clouds were different, instead of seeming like a misty shawl, they had grown thinner into a short scarf. She nodded quietly. “I think so.”

[justanotherpersonsuniverse]

barking barking, ok so i am rereading a bit of the last chapter and the things i had noted last time so that i remember everything that happened but after that i am loose

having an awful idea to listen to the guitar solo of freebird on repeat as i read this.... i am going to do it there is a rotating rat on the 10 hours version i found, wonderful

SO UH THIS IS MASSIVE SORRY ALSO SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T READ CAPS LOVELY NEWEST CHAPTER SCROLL PAST THIS VERY FAST IT MAY TAKE A WHILE. THE READ MORE BUTTON DOESN'T WORK IN ASKS SO SORRY

(i refuse to edit it this time, it took me like. a while last time and this is even longer, so you also get the incomprehensible pieces and no added notes to explain what i meant <3 (also a lot more '<3' this time. not sure why))

MORE CROWS rrr, they are important i know it

the way panthera is surrounded by cats and crows is interesting... like its an amusing visual but also really kick ass if you frame it in your mind right

yes, i enjoy that juleka is confronting ladybug on how she leads, especially considering that we know for sure they are inexperienced, yes i like this conversation

ooo, this is interesting, dust all kicked up focussing on different senses...very fun, always interesting to see how they can rely on things other than sight

woahhh, the staff lets off green sparks?? its made of copper <3 wait i looked it up and... aluminium makes green fire too? huh? this isn't important <33

awesome visual tho

YEAH BEAT HIS ASS BRO roger cop my beloathed <3

massive baby guy would be scary...

yay! teamwork! carapace and panthera woohoo

gonna be honest free birds outro on loop is really setting the mood for fighting for me

stop making me google things cap... t-rexes were apparently in the "late cretaceous" like ok thanks movie franchise for lying to me ig

Rena- this is amazing- she would record that. wonderful descriptors <33

No <3 i do not need the heartbreak of juleka v akumatised rose again <3 stop it <3 you hurt me <3

oh thank god-

this mantra of "calm yourself" is intriguing, i think its not going to work <3 let her go ape shit please

YOO PRINCE SHINING?? NOO

THIS IS BAD ASS THO

HA AND DOWN HE GOES

she's gonna turn this car around road trip with them when?? it can be a well deserved break <3 i am pitching this idea cap <3 this is what i would like and i would like it very much (i kid, its just amusing to me)

no because. because. alya nino and chloe are still able to have fun in a fight and. and- juleka is over here like a war veteran while marinette is trying to corral them all and- upset now

oh no juleka blacked out?? oh dear...

chlolix crumbs... wonderful... (to be honest with you, searching through the chlolix ship tag years ago was why i found these fics, so i love to see them but i am so attached to the story now <33)

OO? violence in your heart juleka?? maim and kill him you say?? good idea <3

“Miss me?” He grinned maliciously. “No, whore.” Queen Bee scowled at her side. i am actually losing it this is the funniest thing i have seen today-

ooo dark cupid being used to farm akumas... this is reminding me of minecraft and zombie villager farming to get the best trades, i can see the video titles now "this hack will TRIPLE your akuma production in just three EASY steps" <- unsure what this is but it happened in my brain, so there you go <3

i do like the idea of dark cupids powers being used tactically like this, i enjoy how its thought out critically when an akuma has an obviously helpful / game changing power

</3 "ma, i'm so exhausted" you are so cruel

AUGH WHAT NO ough rena got got by kim...

marinette kiss her quick

ough emotional

imma be honest for a hot second i thought juleka got hit by dark cupids arrow which i was fascinated by the idea of, however i think if she is to lose self control it would be more interesting if it was due to circumstances than mind altering magic

??? interesting, "there was- for a flash- a blackness that seemed to writhe like a bubbling mass of ink up her fingers—!" curious...

D: chloe... :(

augh my heart... they all got got protecting each other...

YOUR EVIL THIS IS UPSETTING ME

um hello?? who is speaking to her in bold?? am i dumb for not knowing?? girly is hearing voices

kill him!

gigantitan baby cult...

alternate universe where neither of them remember any of the old akumas names and at one point one of the akumas is so offended by the idea of being forgettable its enough of a distraction to get them

not me trying to think about whether a wish could actually be beneficial in any overall capacity using the rules we were given because hawkmoth is saying it would be...

no but why is the fact that akumatised queen bee is just sad making me so upset-

this is such a fucking big chapter jesus christ-

"nicking her ear and taking out one of her piercings" make her design look like gargamels cat azrael 2k18

(thats the wrong year. uh. shhh thats just the auto fill in my head when i say 2k)

hawky boy has gone off the edge of sanity hasn't 'e...

WOAH ONE ON ONE?? OWHUWO

OH NO ITS GOING BADLY

ohno that guy in bold is back at it again being ominous as fuck ohh i am dumb its plagg. yeah that tracks i am but a silly guy

ooo is it happening? is she doing the thing??

YOO THAT WAS BETTER THAN WHAT I THOUGHT OF THAT WAS BADASS YOO??

OUHTFHEDW

really did a bilbo catching the one ring on his finger and turning invisible right when gollum was boutta catch him tense vibes moment i would describe this better but i must get back to reading this was awesome

OOO SHE DID END UP BEING CALM IT WORKED WOHDANW4FIBBDE

THIS IS BAD COMMENTARY I AM EXCITED OK??

augjh=gtfreinig4fgrninib4frnedw

the way that i'm insane for the idea that someone recorded this fight and everyone ends up seeing panthera being a fucking badass has me insane...

mmmm switching the music to metallica

oh that was the right decision perfect base drop timing for what i was reading

ough awoog wibnefr, insane for the way that she is not referring to herself as human rn

awwybgfwei bgyrfned insane for all of this actually

THIS WAS SO FUCKING COOL JESUS CHRIST OH MY GOD ABHWEBHUUNERI I WISH I COULD SHAKE YOU BY THE SHOULDERS AND EXPLAIN ARTICULATELY EVERY DETAIL I LOVED BUT ALAS ALL I CAN DO IS KEYBOARD SMASH AT YOU ACROSS THE INTERNET

love carapce actually <3

“You suck bro. Take an L dude, take an L.” “HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT TO ME– THIS IS MY MOMENT-” “IT’S A RANDOM FUCKING FRIDAY DUDE IT IS JUST A FRIDAY!” Carapace shouted, so frustrated, pinching his fingers together at the man. “YOU’VE WASTED SO MUCH TIME! GET A JOB!” love this so much actually

YO I FORGOT ABOUT MAYURA AND YOU FUCKING NAMED THE CHAPTER AFTER HER BRO

What a wonderful power, she thought. To protect, instead of hurt. stab in the heart why don't you

“HEY LADYBUG WE FOUND A BROKEN STICK!” “I FOUND IT FIRST ACTUALLY!” “I FOUND A FEATHER!” The two simply sighed love them all so dearly actually <3

awoog wiubfrne, whub?? juleka babe girly darling why are you still injured???? ough it was because of the metallica moment (<3 i have my own name for it, the songs i listened to while that was happening was Battery and Master of puppets btw)

well course it didn't heal from the cure, they are exact opposites so their direct effects would cancel out. like a plus and a minus, idiot

Apparently Rose might’ve fought Adam in a random parking lot that they had ended up in because she thought he might’ve hurt her during the attack so.. HWJB4IFE HA she would do that wouldn't she?

“Meh, it happens.” alix??? this is such a hilariously chill response??

nriew more chlolix crumbs...

Alix defended herself passionately, throwing up her hands as icing laid smeared on her lips. She paused for a moment, as Chloe half-heartedly wiped a bit off before continuing THATS GAY GAYY THEY ARE GAY A3WDWEUI sorry i got a bit excited there.

“Don’t worry, I won’t disappear.” “…Sometimes I–” “Yes?” Juleka pepped up. Rose paused and seemingly waved her thoughts away, smiling. “It’s nothing, don’t keep your big bro waiting!” RRRR REVEAL YOUR IDENTITY PLEASE OIGUHER RRRR

no because you somehow manage to keep it being a slow burn after they got together and i'm insane for that

actually they are the most adorable creatures in the universe i love them

I just didn’t think you’d start hearing them now.. huhwuh?? she is supposed to hear voices?????? weird wack ass side effects

ruhroh looks like thats the consequences of your actions nathalie

RUHROH THE CONSEQUENCES OF JULEKAS ACTIONS?? ough she has made herself an extra high value target

Her boy– no. Their boy shut up your in a queerplatonic relationship with gabriel and you both dated emilie in my head. he is your child to me <3 (i will write that damn 200k slowburn unhappy ending prequel i joked about if you fucking force my hand (ie. continue to make reference teeny tiny things like that (or maybe it will just start planning itself in my head right now curse you my brain)))

WAIT THE REST OF THIS PARAGRAPH IS SO SAD SHUT UP YOUR A CRUEL BEAST CAP

Emelie and Gabriel’s boy. He was not her’s. He would never be her’s. She was just– the assistant. The distant guardian. This was all for him though, if she could help– she could just. Maybe.. Nathalie shook her head at herself. What mattered was this family. UPSET NOW

TEARING YOU APART RIPPING YOU APART WITH MY TEETH CAP THIS WAS INCREDIBLE AND THIS TOOK ME OVER 2 HOURS

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I 4yrheiwjnow

you may receive asks in your future about me writing that thing i keep joking about. i am spinning it in my mind like this damn rat

i muted it at times but wanted a timer and uh

this is nearly 1800 words wrong what is wrong with me- yknow what no this is your fault for the monster size of this chapter, anyway, time to slap this beast into your inbox <33

THIS IS MADE ME SO SO SO SOSOSOSOSO SOS O HAPPY.,,,,,,,

THANK YOU SO SO MUCH,, IM GLAD YOU ENJOYED,,,

[once-upon-a-fanfic]

Feel Good Drag Part 3

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Chrissy Cunningham, Eddie Munson x OC (eventually)

Summary:   Natalie and Eddie had been best friends for a few years since she moved to Hawkins. The pair had been inseparable...until Chrissy Cunningham came into the picture.  

Trigger Warnings: Suicide attempt, overdose, Sexual Assault/rape

Notes: I decided not to really describe the OC so the reader can imagine them however they want. The only definite/clear describer (is that a word?) is that it is a she/her OC.

Part 1 Part 2

Written by @the-stuttering-kiwi Co-owner of @once-upon-a-fanfic

Edited by @theshadowsparade  Co-owner of @once-upon-a-fanfic

Oh hi. I’ve crawled out of my seasonal depression to finish this up.  Shout out to @andvys​ (I hope you don’t mind the tag) for getting me back in Eddie Munson’s choke hold. Go read her stuff, its seriously amazing *chefs kiss*.

“You kids realize it's my night off, right?” Jim Hopper leaned against the doorway of Natalie’s hospital room.

“Sorry Chief.” Dustin got up and grabbed the journal from the bedside table. Eddie hadn’t been able to open it again. “I have something I need you to look at.” He handed Hopper the journal and motioned for him to go out into the hallway.

Eddie sat on the edge of his chair, his right leg tapping in tune with his heart in his chest. The beep of the monitors and the hiss of the oxygen tank made him want to crawl out of his skin. He could hear Dustin and Hopper murmuring in the hallway, discussing the contents of the last page.

Eddie closed his eyes and grabbed Nat’s hand. It was the first time he touched her since they found her in the bathroom. How could he have abandoned his best friend?

“Hopper is gonna take care of it,” Dustin said. He sniffled as he sat back down in his chair, his eyes red and puffy.

Eddie nodded, grateful that his friend had called the police. He told Dustin, “You should go home and get some sleep. It’s been… what… almost 24 hours?” Eddie squinted at the clock on the wall, his eyesight blurry from exhaustion.

“So should you.”

“No, I can’t,” Eddie shook his head. “I’m not going anywhere.” He gripped Nats' hand, wrapping his fingers around hers.

“Then I’m staying too.”

After a few minutes of trying to get comfortable in his chair, Dustin let out a defeated huff. “Fine. If it makes you feel better, I’ll go sleep on one of the couches in the waiting room. But that’s as far as I’m going.”

Eddie cracked a small smile. “That’s good enough for me.”

With Dustin gone, the room felt overwhelming. His eyes filled with tears, and he found he didn’t have the energy to hold them back.

“I’m sorry, Nat,” a sob wrenched itself from his chest. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

A loud thud woke Eddie. He shot up in his chair, trying to blink the sun that was pouring in from the window out of his eyes. He glanced at Nat, who was still unconscious. Another thud from behind him made him turn in his chair.

“What the fuck?” he wondered out loud.

Several boxes were stacked in the hospital room. A closer look told him they were from Nat’s room. Eddie quickly realized the person tossing the boxes in the room was Nat's mom.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he growled.

She glared at Eddie. “Didn’t you hear? My husband was arrested last night.”

Good; that is the least that should happen to him, Eddie thought. Instead, he said, “Yeah, and?  Shouldn’t it be his boxes you are tossing out?”

She had the audacity to look shocked. “The only reason he was arrested is that little slut,” she spat the word, “accused him of raping her.”

Eddie shot out of his chair, kicking it away from him hard enough it slammed into the wall behind him with a loud clang. He took two big steps toward Natalie's mom, standing tall to look intimidating.

“Your daughter, your child, ” he pointed behind him, “Almost fucking died because that piece of shit raped her.”

Nat’s mom was determined to hold her ground. “It’s a shame she didn’t follow through,” she sneered. Clenching his fists, Eddie opened his mouth to speak just as Dustin appeared in the doorway, arms loaded with snacks and drinks from the vending machine down the hall.

“What… what’s going on?” he asked innocently.

“She’s just dropping off some of Nat’s things,” Eddie replied through gritted teeth.

Dustin looked between Eddie, Natalie’s mom, and the boxes on the floor. It took him a few moments to read the room, but the realization hit him like a freight train, “Oh.”

“She was just leaving,” Eddie said bitterly.

Nat’s mom dramatically dropped the last box in her hands and stomped out of the room.

Eddie didn’t move as Dustin made his way into the room and dumped his haul onto the table under the window.

“You okay?” Dustin asked.

“I can’t… I can’t believe we left her with them,” Eddie replied. The guilt was eating him alive. Dustin didn’t reply, but Eddie knew he felt the same way.

“You should eat something.”

“I”m not hungry,” Eddie shook his head. He grabbed his chair away from the wall, pulling it back to its spot next to Nat.

“I know, but you should still eat something,” he offered Eddie a small bag of pretzels and a can of coke.

Eddie hesitated for a moment but took the food. “Thanks.”

He opened the bag, and the smell made his stomach growl quietly. He popped a couple of pretzels into his mouth and chewed slowly. He glanced over at the boxes Natalie’s mom brought, but even the sight of them made his stomach churn.

“We should get these boxes out of here,” he said before he took a big gulp of soda, “I don’t want Nat to see them when she wakes up.”

“I can call the guys to come and grab them.” Dustin had already gotten up to start calling.

“They can take them to my place,” Eddie said.

As they began to discuss the details of where Natalie’s stuff would go, Gareth and Jeff knocked on her door.

“Is she doing okay?” Gareth asked.

“She hasn’t really changed,” Dustin explained.

“And her mom really dumped all her stuff here?” Jeff asked, shaking his head while he looked at the boxes.

“I heard Creeper Craig resisted arrest last night. The Chief took him in all black and blue, broken nose, and a few more missing teeth.” Gareth cracked a smile.

“The least he deserves,” Eddie said while the others nodded in agreement.

Eddie helped them carry the boxes out to their car. It felt good to stretch his legs. He stood in the sun for a moment, the warmth spreading across his face, feeling the fresh air in his lungs.

“That’s the last one,” Dustin announced, loading the final box in the trunk.

Eddie reached into his pocket and grabbed his keys, snaking the one for his trailer off the ring. “Here, just pile them inside and I’ll take care of it later.” He handed the key to Jeff.

“I'll go with them to drop everything off and come back,” Dustin explained, as he went to close the trunk.

“Wait.” Something in the box caught Eddie’s eye. He took a couple of steps and grabbed the copy of The Hobbit he had gotten Nat for her last birthday. He used to read the book aloud to her in their downtime; Nat would snort with laughter when he would do the voices for the characters. Gollum was her favorite.

The memory made his throat tighten, and he fought back the tears that flooded his eyes.

Dustin looked at him sadly, “I’ll be back soon, okay?”

Eddie just nodded. “Okay,” he echoed.

Back in the hospital room, Eddie laced his fingers with Nat’s and gave her hand a squeeze. The heart monitor beeped steadily, and other than occasional footsteps in the hallway, the room was overwhelmingly quiet.

Using one hand, he opened the book that lay on his lap, his eyes scanning the note that he had written on the inside cover page. “ Now someone else in Hawkins can read The Hobbit because you won’t have the library's only copy indefinitely checked out. Happy 18th birthday, Nat! Please note that I am always available to do my best Gollum voice. Love, Eddie.”

“Love, Eddie.” He traced his messy handwriting with a shaking finger.  If this never-ending nightmare taught Eddie anything it was that he did love Natalie.  But if he thought he didn’t deserve her before...he sure as shit didn’t deserve her now.

Clearing his throat, Eddie turned to the first page and read aloud, “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit…”

Natalie

Natalie wrinkled her nose, trying to get the feeling of air rushing into her nostrils to stop. She reached what felt like an extremely heavy hand to her face to try and push it away, but was met with hard plastic and tubing.

What the hell? she thought.

She opened her eyes and blinked a few times, looking around the room to get her bearings. When she realized she was in a hospital room, memories flooded back to her.

Craig. The smell of stale beer and old cigarettes. The bitter taste of the pills on her tongue. Eddie yelling in her ear while she vomited.

Eddie…

When her eyes found Eddie, her breath caught in her throat. He sat slouched in the chair next to her bed, a book lying open on his lap. His eyes were closed, and his mouth hung open slightly, a quiet snore escaping every few moments. She realized her left hand was firmly in his grip even though he was sound asleep.

She gave his hand a squeeze. Eddie’s eyes shot open.

“Hi,” her voice was small and raspy.

“Hi,” Eddie said breathlessly. He jerked forward to press the nurse call button.

“Wait,” Nat croaked. “We can call them in a minute, okay?”

Eddie nodded. He stood quickly and moved to the edge of the hospital bed, still holding Nat’s hand. He stared down to where their fingers were laced together. She gave him a reassuring squeeze. When he finally looked at her, his eyes were glassy. He opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was a quiet sob.

“I’m sorry, Eddie,” Nat started, but Eddie shook his head.

“No,” his voice wavered a little. “No, we–I, I abandoned you, Nat. I will never forgive myself for that. You have nothing, nothing to be sorry for.”

“I really missed you,” Nat’s lower lip trembled.

Eddie nodded, leaned forward, and pressed his lips against her forehead.

“I missed you too,” he murmured. When he pulled away, he pressed his forehead to hers. His long hair fell around their faces, noses brushing against each other.

Nat heard hurried footsteps approaching her room. A nurse poked her head in and gasped.

“Oh, you're awake!” she hurried in and pushed Eddie out of the way to start checking Natalie's vitals. It wasn’t long before the doctor and another nurse came into the room.

“You’ll have to wait outside while we do some tests, okay?” one of the nurses pointed Eddie to the door.

“But–” Natalie started, feeling overwhelmed by the flurry of activity.

“It’s okay. I’ll be right outside, okay?” Eddie offered her a reassuring smile, but she knew he didn’t want to leave either.

Trying not to panic, Natalie gave a quick nod and kept her eyes on Eddie until he was out of sight.

Eddie

Eddie paced the hallway while the nurses worked. Chief Hopper had also arrived a little while ago, and was no doubt asking Nat about what she had written in her journal.

“Eddie!” Dustin’s voice was frantic; he came sprinting down the hallway. “Eddie, what’s wrong? Is it Nat? Is she okay?” Dustin skidded to a halt in front of Eddie.

Eddie opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off.

“She’s okay. I think you guys are okay to go in now,” Hopper appeared in the doorway, while the last of the nurses filed out.. He smiled and patted Dustin on the shoulder and gave Eddie a quick nod. “I’ll talk to you kids later, okay?”

Dustin took a deep breath, holding onto Eddie for support. “I saw you out here and I just thought… I’m sorry I took so long, man, I wanted to do something for you and Nat.”

“It’s okay; you came back just in time,” Eddie steered Dustin into Nat’s room.

“You’re awake?!” Dustin yelped and ran to the bed, nearly dive-bombing Nat.

Eddie leaned against the door frame while he watched Dustin give Natalie a tight hug. His chest felt lighter than it had the last couple of days, but anxiety still gnawed at the back of his mind.

“They said I can probably go home tomorrow afternoon,” Nat’s voice was beginning to sound normal again.

“So soon?” Dustin asked, surprised.

“It depends on bloodwork. You know, make sure things are improving, but they think I can recover better at home.”

Home…

Eddie chewed on his bottom lip–how was he going to tell her about her mom?

“Why are your faces like that?” Nat asked slowly, looking between Dustin and Eddie. Only then did Eddie realize Dustin looked suddenly ill.

“Well,” Dustin started, but Eddie cut him off.

“Why don’t you go home, Dust? Take a shower, sleep in a real bed.” He took a step into the room while Nat continued to stare at them suspiciously.

Dustin nodded, gave Nat another big hug, and murmured that he would see her tomorrow.

Eddie sat slowly down on the bed next to Nat. “So, tomorrow, when you get discharged, you’ll come back to my place.” He wasn’t sure how else to say it, other than bluntly.

“Why?”

“Your mom,” Eddie struggled to find the right way to tell her, as he stared at his hands. “Your mom kicked you out.”

He glanced at Nat but found her face was nearly impossible to read. “Oh.”

“But it’s okay, though. We got all your stuff over at my place.” He suddenly wondered if she wouldn’t want to stay with him. “It will be close quarters, but we will be fine.”

“What about Chrissy?”

“Not a factor,” Eddie said simply.

Eddie and Natalie sat in silence for a long moment. “Eddie?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you know why I got kicked out?” she asked quietly.

Eddie looked at her sadly, “Yes. We found your journal. We had to tell someone.”

Nat’s lower lip started to quiver. “So then… you know everything?”

Eddie nodded, and Nat found she couldn’t look at him and turned her head to face away from him..  Part of her felt ridiculous that she felt more upset that this was how Eddie found out about her feelings for him–something that was ruined now. If Eddie suddenly felt any different it would be out of pity.  She tried to blink back the tears but they came anyway.

:”Hey,” Eddie said softly, grabbing her hand, “Look at me.”

Nat slowly turned her head to face Eddie, her eyes red and puffy from crying. Eddie gently wiped away her tears with his thumb and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

“I’m sorry,” Nat said, her voice trembling. “I didn’t mean for you to find out like this.”

Eddie smiled softly. “Hey, don’t apologize, you have nothing to be sorry for.  I just wish…I wish I had told you sooner…”

“Tell me what?”  Nat sniffed, confused.

“ I think part of the reason I fell so hard down the Chrissy rabbit hole was because I was trying so hard to ignore how I felt about you.”

Nat’s eyes widened in surprise. “What do you mean?”

Eddie took a deep breath. “What I mean is–I think I had,  have , feelings for you too, Nat. But I buried those feelings down so far because you’ve been trying so hard to get out of Hawkins…I didn’t want to be the reason why you got stuck here”

Nat’s heart skipped a beat. “You… you do?”

Eddie nodded, his eyes meeting hers. “I do.”

A smile slowly spread across Nat’s face as she realized what Eddie was saying, but then her smile faltered a little, “You aren’t just saying that because of what happened are you?”

Eddie shook his head, “I’m sorry I didn’t just tell you, and I’m sorry it took all this for me to pull my head out of my ass and tell you.”

They sat there for a moment, hands intertwined, both feeling the weight of the unspoken feelings they had been carrying for so long finally lifted off their shoulders.

“So, what now?” Nat asked.

Eddie grinned. “Now, we take things one step at a time. We don’t have to rush into anything–once you are ready we will figure it all out.”

Nat smiled back at him. “I like the sound of that.”

Natalie

Nat was grateful when she got to leave the hospital the following afternoon.  Despite everything she was excited to get back to Eddie’s trailer and start trying to heal.  The ride was quiet and being awkward with Eddie was not a familiar feeling, but she knew Eddie was just as nervous as she was.

Right before Eddie turned into the trailer park, she heard him swear under his breath.

“What?” She asked, glancing at him.

“Nothing, I was just thinking I should have come back this morning while you were sleeping and gotten the place cleaned up a little bit.  And got your stuff put away–I didn’t want you coming home to a pile of your stuff in boxes.”

“It’s okay,” Nat reassured him, “Really, we can get everything put away later.”

As they got closer to Eddie’s trailer Nat’s anxiety started to gnaw at her gut, despite reminding herself that she had Eddie had practically lived together up until a month or so ago, but now with their feelings out in the open, everything was different.

“What the–” Eddie’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts as they pulled into the parking spot in front of the trailer.  Nat couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed the balloons until now.

“Dustin.” They said in unison, grinning at eachother.

Sure enough, Dustin and the others were waiting outside with Eddie’s Uncle Wayne.

“Welcome home!” Dustin practically bounced to the van and opened Nat’s door and pulled her out.

“Thanks, Dustin.”

“Hey kid, long time no see” Uncle Wayne greeted Nat warmly and pulled her in for a quick hug.

“Can we go inside now?” Dustin asked excitedly.

Uncle Wayne chucked, “The boy has a big surprise for you and Nat.” he patted Eddie on the shoulder and steered him to the front door.

“Gareth and Jeff helped too!” Dustin ran ahead of them and opened the door .“And Mike. They wanted to be here to welcome you home but Waybe was worried about it being too overwhelming.”

Nat quietly agreed, while her eyes scanned the trailer. One of the first things Nat noticed was that the trailer was spotless, not that it was dirty, but Wayne worked long, hard hours, and Eddie was…well, Eddie.

“I figured since this was your place now too, we should get our act together,” Wayne explained as Nat looked around.

“You didn’t have to,” Nat said sincerely.  Even at its worst, the trailer was always more comforting and felt like home more than her own did.

“Come on,” Dustin said excitedly, as he grabbed Nat’s hand and pulled her back to Eddie’s room. Nat grabbed Eddie's hand as she brushed past him, grinning.

“Are you ready?” Dustin asked, hand on the doorknob to the bedroom.

“To see my own room?  The room I’ve lived in for the past 10 years? I think I’m ready.” Eddie asked, rolling his eyes.

“I get the feeling you aren’t ready,” Dustin replied, vibrating with excitement.

“Well, I’m ready.” Nat laughed, “Open it on up.”

As Nat looked around, she noticed that everything had been organized and tidied up. The clothes that were once piled up in a corner were now folded and hung up, and the posters that once hung crookedly on the wall were now straight and even. The closet door which could never close due to its contents perpetually spilling from it was latched firmly in place.  Eddie’s bed which was just a mattress on the floor was now an actual bed, with extra space underneath for their things. Along the far wall, she noticed an army cot was neatly made up.

Nat felt a sense of warmth and gratitude wash over her as she realized how much effort Wayne, Dustin, and the others had put into making her new home feel welcoming and comfortable.

“Wow, this is amazing,” Nat said, turning to Wayne and Dustin with a smile. “Thank you so much for doing all of this.”

“Of course,” Wayne replied, smiling back at her. “We wanted to make sure you felt at home here.”

“It’s definitely homier,” Eddie added, chuckling. “Thanks, guys.”

Dustin beamed with pride at their reactions, clearly happy to have helped out. “Glad you like it,” he said.

Nat felt a sense of contentment wash over her–she felt like she was finally home.